Understanding
by BloodAvenger42
Summary: Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose were two individuals that were born with great power. To many this would have been a gift. But to Jaune and Ruby it was nothing but a curse. It was a curse that caused them to hide behind masks and leave their dreams behind. Thus perhaps it was fate's mercy to have these two suffering souls cross paths.
1. Understanding

**Understanding**

Ruby Rose had a fairly normal day thus far. She had woken up early in the morning to do some chores, made breakfast for her clumsy father and moody older sister, and walked her dog within a safe distance from the house. She then continued to work on an upgrade she thought up for the dishwasher in order to make it a bit more efficient with their water supply before her father called in sheepishly stating that he had forgotten his lunch _again._ Thus Ruby had to fly all the way to Vale with the said lunch that her father just couldn't do without and walk awkwardly through the halls of Signal Academy with people constantly asking if she was a student (which she wasn't!) to give him his damn sandwich. She was then supposed do some shopping while she was there because Yang hogged all of the conditioner and then head straight back to the airship so that she could finish up the upgrade and then perhaps study a bit more.

So how on Remnant did Ruby manage to find herself in an interrogation room alone with two of the most powerful people in Vale? In every sense of the word!

"Greetings Ms. Rose," stated a rather youthful looking man with small owl spectacles and piercing emerald eyes, the only hint of his age being his gray hair.

Ruby knew this man. Who wouldn't know the great Ozpin Headmaster of one of the most prestigious Hunter Academies in all of the Kingdom of Vale and arguably the best in the world? The man had such a presence that the small fifteen year old couldn't help but sit up straight and there was also the fact that the man had an odd fascination with her eyes. As if that wasn't enough, standing right behind the man was the most powerful huntress ever known: Glynda Goodwitch. Already Ruby felt so out of place…

"I'm assuming you know who I am?" asked Ozpin.

Ruby could only give a timid nod at the question even though her mind was yelling.

 _Who the hell doesn't?!_

"And I'm also assuming you know why you are here?"

Ruby's eyes wandered to the ceiling as she tried to think of a good excuse. Sadly there was none, because she knew exactly why she was here. It wasn't for a serious crime mind you. Well, okay technically it was for a crime, but she didn't commit the crime… she stopped it.

"Yes…" Ruby muttered quietly, almost too quietly, but Ozpin didn't seem at all fazed as he simply nodded, his enigmatic smile plastered onto his face.

"Good, then you must understand my curiosity," he said, "It is not everyday that one witnesses a minor take down the most notorious criminal in Vale and his minions all on her own with her bare hands no less."

Ruby winced at that small detail. She was a bit embarrassed to admit that she had no idea that the man she had stopped from robbing a dust store was none other than Roman Torchwick, a master thief with a high priority in on Vale's Blacklist. It was just supposed to be a small good deed, nothing out of the ordinary and then she would go on with her day. She should have known better than to play vigilante in a damn city where cameras were everywhere, but hell, she basically lived in a shack out in the woods for most of her life!

"It was no big deal… really," Ruby muttered lamely.

Ozpin's smile remained unchanged, although Ruby could have sworn she spotted a bit of amusement twinkling in the man's eyes.

"Is that so? I would consider a young girl who is not from any known huntsman academy easily taking down a former veteran hunter to be a very big deal."

Ruby felt her eye twitch at the rather blunt jab.

"Y-Yeah… I still don't see what the big deal is… not at all."

An amused chuckle sounded from the headmaster of Beacon, apparently finding Ruby's stubborn denial to be amusing.

"Well then, let us just assume that this was a big deal, hmm?" said Ozpin in a rather patronizing way making Ruby's eyebrow twitch again, "And allow me to ask you the question that I've had in my mind the second I saw the footage."

Ruby stared at the headmaster; her heartbeat becoming faster than it had ever been before in anticipation of the question.

"How would you like to attend Beacon?"

* * *

Jaune Arc had a pretty average day… or maybe it was a bit above average. He got up, brushed his teeth, changed into his work clothes, grabbed his wood axe, and headed to work with his dad. It was supposed to be another routine day, with Jaune joining a group of hardy woodcutters on a trek into the forest surrounding their humble village of Sol Harbor; the "harbor" part of the name being ironic since the village was four miles away from the nearest lake. It may sound rather dull and to be completely frank, it was a very dull job, but Jaune didn't mind. He rather liked his simple life, where everything was laid out for him, less thinking involved and therefore less things he can screw up. But fate just _had_ to find something to screw with him on this day.

That something put the hapless seventeen year old in between his protective parents with his equally protective sisters hovering around him, all of them facing one person sitting opposite of them. The person was a man, a bit haggard to be sure but one that Jaune's parents apparently knew well.

"Well, well Ralof, seems like you're doing well for yourself," stated the man lazily, "Eight kids… respect where respect is due."

Jaune's father, Ralof Arc let out a small chuckle.

"It is good to know that you haven't changed one bit my friend," answered Ralof with a wide grin, only for it to vanish as soon as his wife and daughters all aimed their deadly glares at him.

"Why are you here, Qrow?" growled Jaune's mother, her fiery blue eyes like that of a tiger, ready to kill.

The man on the receiving end of the glare didn't even bat an eye; a feat Jaune thought wasn't possible. Instead the man took out a flask and took a large gulp from whatever was in it, some sort of alcohol, if Jaune were to guess, judging from how loopy Qrow looked.

"You know full well why I'm here, Laura," answered Qrow unfazed at the fact that Jaune's mother looked down right furious now, "Ol' Ozzy asked me to keep an eye out for kids with potential, and I know I spotted one."

Qrow bluntly looked directly at Jaune as he said the last bit making Jaune shift rather uncomfortably. Jaune knew exactly what the older man was implying. What was that thing? Well remember the something that got him into this situation in the first place? Yeah.

Jaune scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he looked towards the ground.

"I only did what I thought was right… I don't think that should really mean anything," muttered Jaune.

Qrow fixed Jaune with a deadpanned look.

"Kid, you defeated a pack of Beowolves estimated to be about two dozen strong lead by an A class alpha with _one punch_ ," stated Qrow, "The aftershock leaving a crater the size of a dreadnaught class warship."

Jaune suddenly found the ground to be extremely interesting, not wanting to look at the man's probing red eyes.

"Then… I guess the beowolves weren't that strong… and the ground was really soft?" Jaune asked desperately.

"Jaune, stop speaking before you dig yourself a hole," said Marissa, Jaune's third oldest sister, bluntly.

"So my son is fairly strong," said Ralof getting a look from Qrow, "Fine, very strong, but does it really require you to basically interrogate him?"

"I wouldn't call this interrogating," said Qrow, "In fact this reminds me of the time I had to deal with that one bullying incident at Signal… I think I spent the rest of the day at the local pub after that."

"Answer the question," growled Laura.

Qrow sighed.

"Now I feel like _I'm_ the one being interrogated…" muttered Qrow before he lazily looked over at Jaune, "Ol' Ozzy would tear me new one in his passive aggressive way if I didn't ask, so I'll just get it over with."

Jaune perked up at that, wondering exactly what this mysterious drunken stranger wanted from him.

"Ya interested in attending Beacon, kid?"

* * *

 _"More than anything!"_

…

That's what Ruby would have said had this been 5 years ago. Ruby had always dreamed of being the best huntress in existence, fighting off Grimm and bringing criminals to justice. Like every kid her age, Ruby had wanted to be a hero, just like her mother…

 _Mom…_

That was before, but now… now Ruby wasn't ten years old anymore. She wasn't as naïve as she made herself out to be in front of her father and sister so that they didn't have to burden themselves with her problems especially with what they were currently dealing with. Ruby's sister, Yang, was dealing with the fact that her birth mother had abandoned her long ago for an unknown reason and her father was dealing with the loss of two of his wives, one from desertion and the other…

 _No… now is not the time to be thinking about that._

Ruby slowly looked up towards the headmaster, whom was patiently awaiting her answer. Ruby took note of the look of worry on Glynda Goodwitch's face behind Ozpin, most likely due to the exhausted expression Ruby had on her face. She wasn't physically exhausted mind you, she just felt… older. Like much older than she currently was.

Ruby Rose had only one answer for the man who was offering to revive an old dream.

* * *

 _"I would love to!"_

…

That was the answer that went through Jaune's head, but not through his mouth. Ten years ago Jaune would have leapt at the opportunity to be the hero that all his ancestors before him did. He would have desperately clawed his way into Beacon one way or the other all in order to fulfill his ambition to be a great warrior that would make his father and every Arc before him proud. He had the tools, he had the knowledge… and he had the drive. Extreme emphasis on had.

While Jaune still retained the tools and the knowledge… the drive was no longer there. It was nothing but a distant memory to Jaune now… or at least it was until Qrow up and brought it back. Jaune didn't hate Qrow for it though; Jaune wasn't really in the business of hating anybody.

 _But I really ought to thank him._

This was the thought that went through the young man's head, for it gave him an opportunity. An opportunity to ease this anxiety that had been in Jaune's heart for many years due to this unfulfilled ambition, one that Qrow now brought back to the forefront with his presence and his question.

And so as he looked up at the eyes of the grizzled veteran, suddenly feeling a bit grizzled himself, Jaune Arc gave his answer an answer he should have decided so long ago… in his mind anyway.

* * *

 **"Thank you, but I have no interest in going to Beacon."**


	2. Chapter 1: Two Worlds, Two Souls

**Chapter 1: Two Worlds, Two Souls**

Silence.

It was a familiar ambiance in the forests of Patch despite the fact that it was so close to the mainland of Vale. The most noise one would hear is the rustling of the grey oaks as the wind gently passed through. For the most part, activity by both the Grimm and human populations were fairly tame resulting such a silence. This was especially true in a certain part of Patch where a modest house sat. The natural overcast slowly started to brighten as the sun began to make its presence known allowing a bit of light to fall upon the humble building. Inside, a similar silence to the world outside was apparent as well, for the residents still slept… At least until a pair of silver eyes revealed themselves to the world.

Ruby slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. The sight of the decently sized living room met her gaze. The room was a rather interesting looking one to say the least, the walls and the singular fan/light fixture on the ceiling suggesting an older style only to be completely wiped off the table by the modern furniture and appliances. The living room comprised of a large plasma screen television mounted upon the very wall that held the fireplace which sat right below it with a cushioned rocking chair and a long L-shaped leather couch all facing the direction of the television, a decently sized glass table sitting near the couch. The room was dimly lit by the small amount of natural sunlight that the overcast would allow through thanks to the small windows located at either side of the fireplace/television along with the bigger window near the front door.

 _Oh… I must have fallen asleep on the couch again._

Ruby sighed as she slowly sat up, a wool, red blanket falling off her shoulders, and let out a small yawn. The sound triggered a response from a small ball of fur at the corner of the couch near where Ruby's head was. The ball of fur unfurled revealing it to be a small corgi yawning and stretching along with its owner. Ruby smiled at the sight of the small dog.

"Good morning Zwei," said Ruby, "Sleep well?"

The said dog simply trotted over to Ruby and rubbed his head against Ruby's stomach in answer causing Ruby to smile a bit wider as she patted Zwei's head. Her eyes then went back to the window staring out into the dimly lit forest.

"How about we go for an early morning jog?" asked Ruby.

Zwei's ears perked up at this excitement clearly showing on his furry face, which caused Ruby to let out a hushed laugh.

"Let me get changed first and we can get going," Ruby said before she got up and made her way around the couch towards the stairs in which the couch sat against.

The stairs led to the house's second floor in which the bedrooms were located. To the left was her father's room, which held the master bedroom and bathroom. To the right was the bedroom that Ruby and her sister, Yang shared along with the modest sized bathroom the two shared. This would have ended up being a hassle had it not been for Ruby's tendency to wake up much earlier than her older sister thus removing any chance for conflict.

 _Thank goodness for that._

Yang was notorious around the household for taking extremely long periods of time in the bathroom and most of that time was spent on the girl's long blonde hair.

 _"It's my prized possession!"_

Those were the words that Yang had once told Ruby as she stroked her long main. Ruby couldn't help but chuckle quietly at the memory. While she loved her sister, she sometimes came off as a bit of a narcissist.

That thought aside, Ruby slowly opened the door to her and her sister's room, the sound of snoring immediately reaching her ears. In the room sat two twin beds sitting slightly apart from one another sitting with the heads against the wall opposite of the bedroom entrance. It also happened to be the wall with the room's sole window, which looked out upon the forest. Ruby's eyes wandered to the bed that was to the right of the window and couldn't help the sigh that followed.

 _How does Yang always end up in such awkward positions?_

The girl in question was currently sprawled haphazardly on her back one leg hanging off the side of the bed, the other was tangled with the sheets and the girl's arms were out stretched. To sum it up, Yang looked like a complete mess, but that was how it was every morning. Ruby shook her head before she tip-toed into her bathroom, which was located to the left, near Ruby's bed. Ruby slowly opened the door and closed it behind her with a soft click before she turned to take in the bathroom. The bathroom consisted of a single shower, glass walls and door erected around the metal showerhead to trap in the water, a standard toilet next to the shower with another window sitting right above it, and a singular sink on the wall opposite of the shower and toilet with a lot of room at either side of the actual sink. Above the sink was a large rectangular mirror in which Ruby looked at, taking in her own features. Her long black hair that reached the small of her back, her bright, silver eyes, her slightly pale skin, and her rather slender frame. All in all Ruby saw herself as a pretty average girl, putting aside the silver eyes, which were apparently rare according to her father.

Ruby huffed before she made her way to the sink taking a toothbrush from a small cup that sat beside the sink starting her usual morning routine: brushing her teeth, washing her face and then quietly changing into a pair of black sweats and a plain white t-shirt. Once was done with this, Ruby made her way back downstairs where Zwei waited patiently for her by the front door, sitting with his tongue out with those adorable eyes of his.

"Alright Zwei, I'm ready, let's go," said Ruby as she made to open the front door.

Zwei immediately hopped up from his sitting position and quickly ran out as soon as he saw ample room for him to fit through. Ruby swiftly opened and closed the door behind her before jogging down the steps of the house's front porch and out onto the grass that surrounded the house where Zwei was waiting. Ruby simply continued running while Zwei turned and ran ahead, stopping every once in awhile to sniff at something that interested him. Ruby didn't worry herself with Zwei knowing he would be in close proximity of her no matter where she went or what pace she set for herself. Instead Ruby took in her surroundings, staring out at the tall trees around her. Morning dew dripped off the leaves of the large oaks as the forest welcomed the new day, the moisture only adding to the already crisp air. Ruby shivered slightly as a breeze blew past her, but it was a pleasant shiver.

Ruby enjoyed the morning atmosphere of Patch. The peace and quiet was… welcoming despite how ominous it may seem to an outsider. Not many songbirds were around these parts due to the high population of Netherhawks, a hawk-like avian Grimm that averaged to be about double the size of Zwei. Yet despite the fact that they were Grimm, the Netherhawks tended to leave the lone human alone during her jog opting to simply watch her silently from a distance. Ruby once wondered why this was, especially after hearing warnings from her father how vicious a murder of Netherhawks were, but after several months of nothing happening, Ruby had simply cast the advice aside as her father trying to scare her.

 _Now I know why they don't attack me…_

Ruby shook her head, not wanting to delve deep into such thoughts. Unfortunately that line of thinking triggered another memory, one that happened about a week ago during one of her many lunch-delivery trips to Vale for her klutz of a father…

 _"Would you like to attend Beacon?"_

Ruby still remembered the slight disappointment in the man's eyes when she turned the invitation down, but she was true to her words. She really had no interest in attending Beacon and honestly with the state her family was in she wouldn't have been able to attend with a clear conscious anyway. Ruby shook her head of such thoughts.

 _Let's not brood about that._

Ruby allowed herself to become aware of her surroundings once again only to realize she had stopped in the middle of her jog, this stop also happened to be right next to a large grey oak where an entire murder of Netherhawks stared down at her with their blood red eyes. Next to her Zwei practically clung to her leg, nervously pawing at her. Ruby simply looked up at avian Grimm before she grinned and waved.

"Sorry about that, we'll be going now!"

The Grimm, of course didn't respond they simply stared at her. Ruby just giggled before she looked to Zwei.

"C'mon Zwei, let's go before our neighbors get angry."

Zwei was only too happy to oblige, as he made his way back down the path they came making sure to stay in close proximity to Ruby in case the Netherhawks decided to try picking him off if he strayed too far. Ruby couldn't help but laugh at the situation as it was one she was familiar with having… every single day since her jogging path took to that same nest every time.

 _Poor Zwei is going to have a heart attack one of these days; maybe I should try finding a different route…_

Still, finding a path that didn't have at least one Netherhawk nest was a challenge upon itself due to how densely populated Patch was with such Grimm, the only rivals being the Beowolves and Ruby hadn't seen one of those in a while.

"Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, right Zwei?"

Zwei simply barked in response to his name. Ruby smirked as she approached her house only for her smile fade when she sensed… or more specifically _smelled_ disaster. Ruby sighed in exasperation.

"When will he ever learn…" muttered Ruby.

Beside her, Zwei let out a whine as if agreeing with Ruby's sentiment. Ruby smiled tiredly down at the dog.

"C'mon Zwei, we should go and fix whatever mess my wonderful father is making."

With that said, Ruby opened the front door and marched straight to the kitchen with was located through an archway that connected it to the living room. Ruby took notice of the television, which was now on, as she made her way through the living room catching tidbits of the ongoing tension between Atlas and Mistral, but that was old news by now. Besides, Ruby had a bigger problem to worry about and that problem was currently frozen carrying fire extinguisher which was pointed down at a rather expensive stainless steel stove top with what looked to be a pan covered in white foam. Ruby stared at her father with a blank expression who stared back with wide, guilty eyes and an awkward smile.

"M-Morning my little angel!" Ruby's father stuttered nervously, "H-How was your jog?"

Ruby stared a her father a bit more, causing him to squirm a bit in place before she finally answered.

"Dad? Do you remember what I told you the last time this happened?"

The blonde man looked up towards the ceiling, seemingly deep in thought before he looked back own at his daughter.

"Not to cook unless you were there?"

Ruby stared at her father before she sighed heavily.

"Zwei, please remove him from my kitchen while I clean up this mess."

The dog solemnly did his master's bidding, walking up to older man before pressing his head against one of the man's legs.

"H-hey Zwei, stop that! I can walk on my own you know!" complained the man as the dog bullied him out of the kitchen.

Ruby simply allowed the two to pass before she set to work cleaning up the mess her father left behind. Ruby opened the window in the kitchen to help aerate the room before she picked up the pan and stared at the blackened… thing that sat upon it. Judging from the shells that were left haphazardly on the countertop, Ruby guess this used to be an egg.

 _How the hell does someone fail this hard at making an egg? Even better, how the hell did he set it on fire?_

Ruby sometimes marveled at how inept her father was at certain things. While she loved him to bits, there were some points where Ruby just wanted to smack him upside the head. Ruby set to work scrubbing the burnt residue off the pan with a sponge, running hot water on the pan to help speed up the process.

"Did dad try to cook again?"

Ruby didn't need to turn around to know that her sister was standing in the kitchen.

"What gave it away?" asked Ruby as she continued scrubbing down the pan.

"Well, judging from the fact that dad's sulking in the living room with a fire extinguisher next to him and Zwei keeping a close eye on him while you're scrubbing away at a pan looking pretty peeved," listed Yang, "I've pretty much got the entire picture."

"Mmm…" answered Ruby.

"You can say you're, pretty _burned up_ by the whole ordeal!"

Ruby almost dropped the pan she was holding as she groaned. From the living room she heard Zwei let out a pained whine while her father barked out in laughter.

"I swear your puns only get worse with each passing day," muttered Ruby.

Ruby could practically hear the pout in her older sister's voice as the girl responded indignantly.

"Well sorry if I need to keep up the energy of this house!" ranted Yang, "I mean people sometimes mistaken you to be the older sister because of how low-key you are and you won't stop growing!"

Ruby smirked at this. It was true that Ruby had quite the growth spurt upon hitting her teenage years, easily standing a full inch taller than her sister though it as pretty much the only thing that Ruby had on her sister in terms of growth. Couple that with Ruby's tendency to be a bit more mature than most her age and it gave her the illusion of being older than she actually was.

 _And to think I wanted to train with a weapon double my size before… what would that have done to my height? And don't get me started with my belief that milk and cookies would help me grow up faster._

"I don't see why that's my fault," stated Ruby pushing the thought aside.

"See? There you go again! I shutter to think of the state of this house once I leave for Beacon!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure Dad will cover for you."

"But he will be alone against your tyranny!"

"I'm not a tyrant, in fact I'm quite benevolent and I clearly state what displeases me."

"There you go again with that grown-up talk!"

Ruby couldn't help but let out slight giggle at that. She enjoyed this banter with her sister and she would honestly miss it. Ruby's smile faded a bit at that.

"So today's the big day, huh?" asked Ruby hiding her melancholy.

"Yup!" stated Yang, putting an emphasis on the 'P'.

Ruby turned around and smiled at her sister who was currently leaning on the kitchen table, her back facing Ruby but her head cocked so that her eyes could meet Ruby's.

"Try to get into too much trouble, sis," said Ruby, "I won't be there to bail you out this time."

Yang stuck her tongue out at Ruby.

"It would have been easier if you were with me," she grumbled.

"Yeah… sure…" said Ruby looking to the side.

Ruby had neglected to mention her run-in with Ozpin to her family. Yang would have never let it go.

"Since it's pretty much your last morning here, would you like anything in particular?" asked Ruby

Yang looked up in thought before she shot Ruby a bright smile.

"Well I always liked your breakfast scramble, so I'll have that!"

Ruby smiled happily at this.

"Coming right up! Zwei, make sure that Dad doesn't try and 'help'!"

Ruby and Yang laughed at the indignant cries made by their father while Zwei let out a resolute bark. Ruby then set to work on, resolving to make the best breakfast she could for her sister. She didn't have the time to be sad about Yang leaving.

 _I'm the one who chose this life after all._

Indeed, Ruby had chosen this type of lifestyle, resolving to care for her clumsy father while also looking into some odd jobs in the harbor city in the western part of Patch, the side closest to the mainland. It was a quiet path, but one that Ruby would grow to love she was sure, the ache in her heart would fade eventually.

* * *

The morning sun was usually the signal for life to begin moving in its usual routine. The birds would start singing their songs, the Grimm would retreat to the shadows, the dogs would bark at one another, and the villagers of Sol Harbor would bustle about to take care of what ever business they have…

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Well… all accept one.

"Jaune! It's time to wake up!"

In the room of a decently sized wooden house a single window allowed the sun's rays to land upon a single bed, which was just big enough to hold one occupant. Upon the bed lay the notoriously late sleeper of Sol Harbor who currently had their entire body covered by the warm fabric uncaring of the heat being produced due to it. This individual was Jaune Arc possibly one of the laziest to ever exist in Remnant, or so his sisters have told him anyway.

"If you're not up in five minutes I'm going to bring Sierra up here to deal with you!" called the voice on the other side of the door.

Soon footsteps were heard as the speaker walked away from the door. Jaune let out a groan as he slowly sat upright the blanket stubbornly clinging to his head as he did so. Jaune sat there for a moment as he tried to blink his drowsiness away despite the cloth on his face that was blocking his view of the world. The next moment he shook his head until the blanket finally came off revealing his messy blonde hair and his ocean blue eyes to the world. Jaune blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sudden burst of light that entered his retinas taking in his surroundings for a moment.

His room was a fairly simple one. Besides the bed and the window, the only other features of real note were the other two pieces of furniture that were in the room: a wooden dresser that sat to the right of the head of Jaune's bed and a bookshelf which housed all of the books and toys of Jaune's childhood. After that it was simply the door to Jaune's right, which led to the hallway and the woodcutter's axe that sat next to it.

Jaune let out a yawn before he slowly began to make his way off his bed and in front of his dresser. Jaune usually didn't sleep in anything but his boxers due to hating how the cloth made him sweat every time he tried to sleep. Hell, if he had it his way he'd sleep naked, but doing so while living under the same roof as eight people of the opposite gender didn't seem like the wisest thing to do so Jaune compromised.

 _Heh… I think Sierra would skin me alive if she caught me sleeping like that._

With that thought, Jaune took out his usual clothes, which consisted of a pair of beaten up jeans and a blue and white plaid button up and threw them on. With that done he made his way towards the hallway door only to stop and look at the axe leaning against the doorframe.

The axe itself had a rather unique design compared to most woodcutters' axes, this one having a steel shaft with dark bocote wood surrounding it rather than the standard oak shaft and the axe head was made of tempered steel. The axe honestly looked fit for a battlefield than a simple woodsman axe, but it was the perfect axe for Jaune and had served him well these past few years.

"Alright Valido, time to start a new day," said Jaune with a smile before he easily lifted the axe, or Valido as Jaune named it and opened the door to the hallway.

Jaune's room was located at the end of a narrow hallway a window being at the end of that hallway thus allowing natural light to enter it as well as some of the village's ambiance to make its way through the glass. Jaune looked down onto the street watching as familiar faces came and went about their business.

 _I'm going to be doing the same pretty soon._

"Jaune! You better be up or I'm coming up there!" a feminine voice shouted up from downstairs.

Jaune let out a sigh as he turned away from the window.

"I'm up Sierra! Cool down will ya?" he called back as he made his way down the spiral staircase.

Jaune reached the bottom floor at his own pace taking in the large living room that was visible from the top of the stairs complete with furniture all made of the finest Atlesian ebony. In a house made almost entirely of wood, it only seemed fitting for every furnishing to be wooden as well. Jaune would know, since he helped build half of the furnishings in this house.

"How long are you planning on standing there?"

Jaune blinked and looked over at one of the couches of the living room only to see a girl with long platinum blonde hair and cool brown eyes lying on it. The girl was currently reading a book seemingly oblivious to the world around her, the only contradiction being that she was the speaker.

"Morning Marissa," said Jaune with a grin.

Marissa was about three years older than Jaune and a woman of few words. Most of her time was spent reading up on a book of some sort, which ranged from a whole assortment of subjects. This made Marissa one of more knowledgeable individuals of the family although she only disclosed any information she knew when it pleased her. Thus why Jaune wasn't surprised when the only answer he received was a short 'hmm' from her as she continued to read what looked to be an encyclopedia.

Jaune shook his head before he made his way towards the kitchen, which sat opposite of the living room through a decently sized archway. The kitchen itself was fairly vast spanning to about three quarters the size of the living room complete with a large island counter and various black stone appliances to help with cooking such as a black stone oven and a black stone stove. Currently working diligently on breakfast were two more women. One had dirty blonde hair like Jaune that stopped at the base of her neck with brown eyes while the other held the same eyes as Jaune with the same platinum blonde hair as Marissa only her hair was much longer and in curls.

"About time you woke up, lazy head!" giggled the woman with curly hair.

Jaune simply grinned goofily.

"Well you did kind of threaten to sic Sierra on me, Mary."

Mary simply smiled her ever-shining smile in response as she continued to work. Mary was the type of woman that always had that smile on her face no matter what the situation. It was to the point where one wouldn't be able to tell what Mary was thinking nor how to act around her in certain situations. The only thing Jaune knew was that he didn't want to see her when she was actually angry; he had caught a glimpse of it a week ago after all… Meanwhile the other woman turned to fix Jaune with a glare.

"Don't think I'm just letting that 'cool down' comment go," she growled.

Sierra was the type of woman who was all business and no fun. Generally seen as the responsible one by all of her peers, Sierra went above and beyond to make sure everything was done appropriately in accordance to her own opinion. Thus why she was usually in conflict with personalities like Jaune and Marissa whom liked doing things their own way although Jaune was a bit more accommodating than Marissa was.

"Well you are a wonderfully hard worker and I'll do whatever you ask me to, my dear sister," answered Jaune with a goofy grin.

Sierra huffed and went back to work.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Jaune."

"And yet there you are gushing at the praise," stated Marissa blandly as she made her way past Jaune towards the dining room which was through an archway at the other end of the kitchen.

Sierra rounded on the other woman.

"I don't need to hear that from you!"

Jaune couldn't help but laugh at the antics of his sisters. Three eldest sisters in fact, with Sierra being the eldest at the age of twenty four, Mary following just behind her at the age of twenty three, and Marissa being twenty. Jaune himself was seventeen years old and the fourth eldest child of the Arc family. He was a middle child in a family consisting of eight siblings, but due to the fact that he was the sole brother, he received quite a bit of attention from his sisters… too much in his opinion, but he wasn't going to complain out loud. Following Jaune was his twin sister, June who looked so much like him that if the two were to be of the same gender then nobody would be able to tell them apart. After that were the twelve year old triplets: Maddie, Lindsey and Holly, or as Marissa liked to call them, 'The Brat Trio'.

The Arc Household was anything but calm with so many clashing personalities on one place, but Jaune loved his family all the same.

 _Being able to get away from the chaos by working in the woods helps a bundle in terms of my sanity though._

Yet another thought that Jaune wouldn't dare openly confess to his sisters. With that thought, Jaune made his way past a fuming Sierra and a giggling Mary to follow Marissa into the dining room where he found Marissa sitting alongside an older man who was reading a paper, the man had dirty blonde hair like Jaune's and an equally dirty blonde beard with jolly brown eyes. This man was Ralof Arc, the father of the Arc household and Jaune's role model.

"This again? When will this nonsense with Mistral end?" grumbled Ralof light-heartedly in his heavy accented voice.

Marissa didn't look up from her encyclopedia when she answered.

"It won't, because the Schnee Dust Corporation basically owns Atlas and it has had its eyes on Mistral's vast collection of untouched dust crystals for years."

"Now, now, there is still hope that things can end peacefully," stated Ralof with an encouraging grin.

"Highly doubtful the way things are currently going," said Marissa, but a small smile appeared on her mouth regardless.

Jaune really admired the way his father could get even the coldest souls to warm up a bit just by being around him. Ralof was honestly a big reason why Jaune was the way he was today.

"Morning Dad," said Jaune making his presence known.

Ralof looked over, his grin widening upon seeing his son.

"Jaune my boy! Finally awake from your beauty sleep, eh?"

Jaune simply grinned sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.

"What can I say, I like my sleep, and besides sleep helps me grow right?"

Ralof let out a hardy laugh.

"Spoken like a true lazy man!" Ralof joked, "I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you slept an entire day without anyone to interrupt you!"

Jaune shrugged not arguing with or against the statement. Before he looked around.

"Where's Mom, June and the triplets?" asked Jaune.

"They left for Vale earlier," stated Marissa, "You're lucky you were able to say your goodbyes last night."

Jaune scratched the back of his head again.

"Eheh… sorry."

While Jaune held a smile, his heart was full of guilt. Jaune had been awake when June and his mother were about leave, he heard the goodbyes being exchanged a second time with wishes of good luck. He didn't send his sister off however, how could he? After all it only reminded him what he could have had… the life he could have led.

 _"Ya interested in attending Beacon, kid?"_

Jaune inwardly sighed.

 _I'll have to call June after she gets settled in so that I can apologize._

Honestly Jaune didn't think the event would bother him so much, but apparently his sisters had been noticing him becoming a bit more subdued in his actions, his increased laziness being one of the results. Jaune didn't argue with these points because for the most part they were true, but he hoped beyond hope that it was just a phase that would eventually pass.

"Breakfast is ready!" sang Mary's voice.

Jaune blinked realizing where he was standing and immediately stepped out of the archway allowing Mary to pass by while setting down a couple of plates full of food ranging from eggs to sausages.

"Looks and smells wonderful as always!" said Ralof, a hint of pride in his voice at his daughters' handiwork.

Jaune sat down at the table as well smiling up to Mary.

"Thanks Mary," he said.

Mary smiled brightly to Jaune.

"Your very welcome Jaune!"

"Wait, where's my 'your welcome'?" complained Ralof.

Jaune leaned over so that he could look at Sierra who was dutifully cleaning the stove.

"Thanks Sierra!" he called.

"You better enjoy it Jaune," answered Sierra completely failing to hide her gleeful smile.

"Why are my daughters ignoring my love?!" exclaimed Ralof tearfully and dramatically.

Marissa simply patted Ralof on the shoulder, still not taking her eyes off her book.

"There, there," she said.

Jaune shook his head at the exchange. This was just another morning in the Arc household only not as crazy with the little ones being out.

"We should probably eat quickly, Dad, the others are probably at the edge of the forest by now," said Jaune while picking up his fork to dig in.

"And who's fault is that?" muttered Ralof with a slight pout.

It was a sight to see, a burly man like Jaune's father pouting like a six year old. Jaune couldn't help but laugh while Marissa openly cringed.

"Dad please stop," Marissa stated with a shiver.

Mary only laughed nervously at the display while Jaune simply dug into his food with a wide grin on his face.

 _I'll be fine. I have my family with me after all and everything I can ever want. There's no need to follow some ancient legacy that's long sense died off with my great grandfather._

Jaune looked down at his food his smile ebbing a bit.

 _No need at all._


	3. Chapter 2: Pasts that Shape the Future

**Chapter 2: Pasts that Shape the Future**

 _ **"…tensions are still high between the kingdoms of Atlas and Mistral. According to eye-witnesses in both kingdoms, there were signs of 'increased military activity'. Both Atlas' Kaiser and Mistral's Queen have refused to comment on this matter and Vacuo has remained in the dark through this entire ordeal. There is hope for a peaceful resolution as a possible meeting between Mistralian and Atlesian emissaries is in the works. Again we have yet to confirm this, but our very own councilmen have assured us that: 'They are working hard to insure that the peace is kept and the Grimm are held at bay'."**_

"Jeesh, it feels like the end times are over the horizon, right Ruby?"

"Hmm," Ruby answered half-heartedly.

While she heard the news and her father, she couldn't really be bothered with either of them as her current task required her full concentration.

 _Focus. Breath in. Breath out._

Ruby stared hard at the object in front of her… or rather the multiple pieces of an object. Currently before her were various mechanical parts all laid out neatly over the floor. Ruby took it all in before closing her eyes for a moment.

 _Alright. Let's begin._

With that Ruby's eyes snapped open even as her arms moved on their own quickly setting to work on what she had memorized from the blueprint that was sitting off to the side. Every movement was calculated and efficient, almost moving in a pattern of sorts until Ruby stopped and sat back. Before her was now a toaster without its metal cover on. After another once over, Ruby leaned forward, loaded the machine with a slice of bread and pulled down the lever that lowered the bread into the mini-furnace. Ruby then watched as the machine whirred to life; the hum of the dust-infused metal bars of the furnace as they began to generate heat along with the ticking of the internal timer.

 _If my calculations are correct… this should be finished after 10 seconds._

Ruby's calculations seemed be correct as like most toasters, the lever whipped back into its neutral position almost sending the toast flying as a result, but Ruby didn't care about that, she cared about what came next, more specifically, the small fan system that she had installed at the bottom of the toaster. The little fans started up immediately after completion of the first batch of toast cooling off the metal bars of red dust using the cool air of the small tube of ice dust that Ruby had installed along with the fans. After a few more seconds, the toaster was ready for another batch thus waylaying the product warning of overheating.

 _Good, looks like this was another success._

"Y'know Ruby? I don't think I'll ever cease to be amazed at watching you work on your inventions."

Ruby blinked and looked up at her father who was sitting on the couch admiring Ruby's handiwork.

"I mean it's not every day you see a fifteen year old girl build a toaster with an pretty complicated looking upgrade in literally a second if you don't count the time you spent testing it," continued Ruby's dad with a grin on his face.

Ruby let out a small huff as she set to work placing the metal cover over the newly built toaster, or rather, the newly upgraded toaster.

"You've said that every time I finished upgrading the appliances, Dad," said Ruby, "It was flattering the first time and second time, but now it's actually starting to get annoying."

A bark of what seemed to be agreement came from Zwei who was currently lying beside Ruby. Ruby's father let out a dramatic sigh.

"Why do you gotta be so cruel to me oh sweet daughter of mine?" he asked, "Now that Yang is gone you're all that I have!"

"Whatever you say, drama queen," answered Ruby as she carried the finished toaster over to the kitchen where she placed it back on the countertop.

The toaster was the last of many upgrades in the kitchen that Ruby had made due to how inefficient all the devices were.

 _This is what happens when Valean engineers try to copy Atlesian technology, it doesn't work the same because of the different climates you uncultured numbskulls._

Ruby shook her head before she cast a glance over the entire kitchen to see what else she needed to upgrade next… only to find that there was nothing.

 _Huh… well this is… unexpected…_

Ruby put a hand on her chin as she tried to think of what she needed to do only to find there was nothing.

"Well whatever, I guess I'll just take a walk outside I guess," muttered Ruby.

With that thought, Ruby turned and walked out of the kitchen, past her father who was still lazily lying on the couch and towards the front door.

"Eh? You going out Ruby?"

Ruby looked over her shoulder at her father before nodding.

"Just thought I could use some fresh air," stated Ruby.

A nudge at Ruby's leg told her Zwei wanted to come along. Ruby bent down and scratched him behind the ears before she looked back at her father.

"Want to come with?" she asked, "You could use the exercise."

"Don't wanna," grumbled Ruby's father.

Ruby rolled her eyes as she opened the front door.

"Such a child," she said, "Well enjoy the couch, tubby."

With that, Ruby was out the front door, a small smile on her face as she listened to her father's ranting about how cruel Ruby was. Ruby knew that her father wasn't as lazy as he played himself off to be. Hell, he was probably even more active than her uncle who was still actually doing huntsman jobs. Ruby still remembered watching as her father trained his punches in the forests when he thought Ruby and Yang weren't looking. From what Ruby saw, she knew where Yang got her power.

 _I also know why Dad always feels the need to train in secret._

Ruby's father hadn't always been so secretive about training; he used to even show off to Ruby and Yang when they were younger getting all riled up about huntsmen and heroism. Ruby remember enjoying seeing how powerful her father was and wanting to follow in his footsteps to become a hero.

 _That is a past long gone now._

Ruby allowed an empty smile to appear on her face.

It was funny how different Ruby was now to the innocent, chirpy Ruby from back then. No one would have guessed that the idealistic ten-year-old dreamer was the same person as the cynical fifteen-year-old realist. Sure Ruby put on a strong front for her family so that they could live as normally as possible, but in reality Ruby knew that her family would never be the same after…

 _"It's okay Ruby, everything will be okay."_

Ruby felt herself involuntarily flinch upon hearing the words as if they were spoken in her ear. And it was then as if in a horrid twist of fate, Ruby found herself in the middle of a large clearing. It seemed that her legs automatically took her in a random direction, as she was deep in thought. Zwei was practically hugging her leg while letting out a small whine of discomfort. Ruby honestly didn't blame him for this place was no ordinary clearing. It was as if a tornado full of sharp shrapnel touched down on this one specific area, tearing everything and anything asunder.

 _I would know… I'm the one who caused it after all._

Ruby took in the wooden debris scattered all around of the trees that used to stand here, the desolate looking soil due to no vegetation reaching the area yet. This scar in Patch's great forest served as a reminder to Ruby of the event that nearly tore her family apart.

 _"Ruby!"_

 _"Ruby! Calm down!"_

Ruby sighed before staring up at the sky, a heavy phantom weight suddenly very noticeable on her shoulders. Above her she watched as several Netherhawks flew overhead in a circle, their eyes watching her closely. Not that Ruby really cared, she knew they wouldn't bother her.

 _Because they're afraid of me._

Yes. Since that day, Grimm had always been afraid of Ruby, choosing to keep their distance and watch her from afar, something that could have been thought of as a blessing… unless this same logic applied to humanity as well. Ruby wasn't blind; she knew she held some sort of presence whenever she walked in the streets in Vale in order to bring lunch to her forgetful father. She had watched time and again as people actively made sure to stay clear of her path. Of course that happened a little less now that Ruby had more control over her aura, but from time to time, Ruby would find a person who went out of their way to steer clear of her. And as if this wasn't enough, even her own family had their own ways of avoiding her. Ruby's father with his secret work outs, Yang acting overly energetic and loving whenever Ruby was around, her uncle, Qrow, almost never visiting Patch, even Zwei showed a small discomfort in being around her for a while.

 _I don't blame them. After all I'm the one who took away the very person that kept this family together._

Ruby slowly looked down from the sky and stared off in certain direction, her eyes suddenly glowing as they homed in on a specific area. Without a second thought, Ruby took Zwei in her arms before a split second later she was at the destination she sought. No longer was she in the clearing, but instead a cliff side at the edge of Patch. Nearby, the ocean waves crashed against the jagged shore below and the salty breeze tickled Ruby's skin. Ruby care little for either of those things as she stared down at a lone piece of stone that stuck out of the ground near just before the edge of the cliff. The smooth block sat there surrounded by the small amounts of vegetation that managed to grow just outside the reach of the trees. Upon the stone was an engraving of words:

 _Here lies Summer Rose. Loving Mother, Wife, and Sister._

Where most would visit a gravestone of a loved one to share experiences of their lives as if the dead could hear, Ruby looked upon the stone as a reminder of what she had done. She held no such illusions that her mother was somewhere in spirit form watching over her, those were the hopes of deluded fools. Her mother was dead and most likely a pile of bones at this point buried six-feet under the ground.

 _And it is my fault that she isn't here with us instead._

This was a fact. It was something that she would live with for the rest of her life. Ruby accepted this fact. She needed to repent for such a deed somehow after all.

A sudden whine and a warm, wet tongue against her cheek caused Ruby to remember that she had Zwei still in her arms. Ruby looked down the small furry animal resting upon her bosom looking up at her with such innocent eyes. Ruby allowed a small smile on her face.

"Sorry Zwei, I was just lost in thought, should we head back?"

Zwei let out a bark before Ruby put him down. She cast one last glance back at her mother's grave before turning around and heading back towards her house.

* * *

"TIMBER!"

The groaning of a tree as it slowly started to fall over sounded across the forest followed soon after by the sound of a loud crash as it hit the forest floor. Jaune rested Valido on his shoulder as he looked over at his fellow lumberjacks setting to work on the fallen tree, chopping off the branches and throwing them into the ever-growing pile. It was yet another busy day for the lumberjacks of Sol Harbor especially with the main city of Atlas demanding more wood for reasons yet to be discerned.

 _"A job is a job in the end and we could use the money,"_ Jaune's father had said at the dining room table, _"I just hope that they aren't going to be using that wood for what I think they're doing."_

Jaune shook his head.

 _I don't think they really use wood for very much weaponry these days..._

Still, Jaune knew there were many useful things that could be done with wood in a war effort thanks to his ever history-obsessed little sister, June.

 _Here's hoping that that wood_ isn't _being used for a war against Mistral._

"Oi! Jaune!"

Jaune blinked back into focus before he looked over at the men gathered by the now branchless log of the tree he felled. Jaune couldn't help but smile.

 _They've gotten faster._

"Alright then, I'll put this with the others," said Jaune as he walked over, "Keep clear everyone."

With one hand, Jaune casually lifted the large log over his shoulder, his other hand still occupied by Valido, before walking over to a pile of five logs stacked neatly in the clearing that the lumberjacks made. Where most would stare in awe at this inhuman feat, the lumberjacks simply nodded to Jaune in thanks before heading over to the next tree and setting to work. Most of these men had seen what Jaune was capable of or at least heard of it and thus thought of it as a normal day-to-day occurrence. It was not secret among the residents of Sol Harbor that Jaune had titanic strength, especially since it earned the attention of a well-known hunter.

 _Let's not go there right now._

Jaune gently laid the log down atop of the growing pile was about to head back towards his fellow lumberjacks, whom were still cutting down a tree until he spotted a young doe not too far away staring at him curiously from the tree line. With a soft smile, Jaune made his way over to it, putting his hand out for it to sniff.

"Hey there," he said.

The doe took a cautious sniff of Jaune's outstretched appendage before it completely relaxed itself. Jaune then placed his hand on the animal's head rubbing it affectionately.

"You shouldn't be here, it's not safe," said Jaune as if the animal would understand his words.

The doe of course ignored him and simply enjoyed the feeling of his hand on its head. It was then that Jaune noticed not too far away an entire herd of deer all slowly making their way over to Jaune's location, grazing upon the grass.

"Again? Jeez, this makes this job so much more difficult with all these damn critters getting in the way of the trees."

Jaune looked over to see one of his fellow lumberjacks standing beside him with his hands on his hips. Torvard Lionmane was the man's name, a good friend of Jaune's father who was basically considered family due to how much time he spent with the Arcs whether it was drinking with Jaune's father, or taking care of the triplets who loved tugging in his long red beard that he took pride in.

"I blame you for this, Jaune," said Torvard jokingly, "You and your animal whispering ways."

Jaune chuckled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as the doe he was petting went back to grazing with its herd. This was yet another daily occurrence for the lumberjacks as Jaune's aura apparently attracted many different animals both predator and prey, treating Jaune as a "beacon of safety" according to some of the lumberjacks. Jaune was apparently someone that was safe to be near.

 _If only they knew better._

Jaune's smile somewhat faded as an old memory resurfaced in his mind. Suddenly a hard slap on his back brought him out of his reverie. While Jaune wasn't really affected by the blow, the suddenness of it brought him back into focus as he looked over at Torvard who held a large grin on his face.

"Now's not the time for sulking my boy! We've got lumber to chop!"

Jaune couldn't help but smile back.

"Sorry Uncle Tor, I'm on it," said Jaune.

The man let out a hardy laugh as the two went back towards the main group of lumberjacks whom were just able to free yet another tree from its base.

"TIMBER!" yelled several lumberjacks as the tree went down.

The crash would have caused most wildlife to take off running, but with Jaune there, most animals simply looked in the direction of the crash in curiosity before then went back to whatever they were doing. Hell, Jaune spotted a pack of forest wolves using a nearby stump as a resting place, watching the lumberjacks as they worked. Jaune shook his head at the display as he set to work on cutting branches with Valido, easily chopping several with every swing.

"Good work Jaune! We'll start to work on the next tree while you and the rest of the boys finish that up!" stated Jaune's father.

"Will do Dad!" said Jaune waving to his father as he and the other veteran lumberjacks moved on to the next tree.

Jaune then made ready to take another swing when suddenly a foot came down upon his target making Jaune immediately freeze in his actions.

"Still trying to paint a better picture of yourself, eh Arc?"

Jaune looked up towards the speaker to see a boy of the same age as him along with five others right behind him, all with less than friendly smiles on their faces. The comment made towards Jaune held a fair bit of malice, but despite that, Jaune simply kept his smile on his face as he looked at the other boy. Jaune knew who they were; in fact their group was fairly notorious around the village, being known as a gang of bullies.

 _The self-named Wolfgang with their leader, Johan Copperfield._

It seemed that this time they chose to follow the lumberjacks so that they could bother Jaune, most likely trying to get a rise out of him. Jaune had not intention of doing such a thing… for he remembered what had happened before. So instead he calmly met the other boy's gaze.

"Something like that yeah," answered Jaune with a sheepish grin, "You should probably move your leg though, we need to get this log with the rest of them."

It was meant to be a simple suggestion really; after all to interrupt a lumberjack while they were wielding an axe was dangerous. This logic apparently didn't apply to this boy who simply took offense given the glare that appeared on his face.

"Eh? You ordering me around now, Arc?" he growled.

Jaune nervously scratched the back of head.

"N-No, I was just suggesting that you stay clear for your own safety, I'm swinging an axe after all," said Jaune.

Johan continued to glare at Jaune before vicious smile appeared on this face.

"Then why don't you try to move me then? You have the strength to do it, you also have the heartlessness to actually make it happen."

Jaune's eyes widened a bit at those words.

"W-Well I don't really want to hurt you," said Jaune.

"Don't even bother trying that with me, Arc, we both know that in the end, you're just another monster like the Grimm," said Johan leaning forward and getting into Jaune's personal space causing Jaune to take a step back.

Flashes of memories appeared in Jaune's head at those words most of them when he was younger… mostly of faces long passed.

"That's right, you remember them don't you? The kids that your murdered?" growled Johan taking on an air of superiority, "Don't feel like much of a hero now do you?"

Jaune's grip on Valido loosened a bit, a feeling of fatigue suddenly settling. He didn't feel any anger towards Johan at those words because they were all true. Jaune wasn't some beacon of safety as Torvard described; he was a monster who could bring death and destruction to all in Sol Harbor if he lost control for even a moment.

"That's enough out of you lot!" a booming voice echoed across the entire forest bringing Jaune out of his reverie.

Johan clicked his tongue in annoyance as he backed off from Jaune.

"See you around, Arc," he said before he and the rest of his gang made their way back towards Sol Harbor.

Jaune didn't watch them go, he simply stood where he was, a blank expression on his face. A hand rested on his shoulder and Jaune looked up to see Torvald there with a look of concern on his usually jovial face.

"Why do you let those Grimmbaits step all over you?" asked Torvald, "You can just as easily brush them off or ignore them."

Jaune stared at the older man for a bit, before he swallowed his sorrow and allowed a practiced smile to appear on his features.

"They don't step all over me," said Jaune, "We're just kidding around!"

Jaune looked away from the man before he could see his reaction already knowing by heart what it would be as it had been every other time.

 _A look of disappointment and frustration._

"Jaune…"

"We should get back to work Uncle Tor, daylight's burning after all!" stated Jaune with a wide grin.

The man stood there staring at Jaune for a bit before he let out a sigh.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself forever, Jaune," stated Torvald as he started walking away, "One of these days you will have to forgive yourself."

Jaune's smile turned bittersweet at those words as he stared down at the log in front of him.

 _But I can never do that._

Jaune then reared Valido back before slashing off an entire section of branches with one clean swipe.

 _After all a monster like me doesn't deserve that type of honor._


	4. Chapter 3: A Chance Meeting

**Chapter 3: A Chance Meeting**

Ruby sat upon one of the many benches available within the dust ship with her eyes closed as she meditated. Once again due to her father's clumsiness she was on her way to Vale to perform a task in his stead only this time it was a bit different.

"Eh… Sorry Ruby… I could have sworn the date was different," came a sheepish mutter beside her.

Ruby didn't open her eyes as she answered.

"Honestly Dad, between your sense of time and Yang's puns I don't know which one is worse."

Ruby felt her father slumping a bit in the seat beside her.

"Cruel…"

One might wonder why she was currently in the dust ship with her father, or more importantly what her father forgot that caused him to turn to Ruby… like every other time.

 _"So Ruby."_

 _Ruby didn't look up from her current task of washing the dishes, but she did let out a hum of acknowledgement to let her father know she was listening._

 _"I, uh… well… you see…" the man started slowly and sheepishly._

 _Ruby knew this tone of voice all too well and this caused her to sigh heavily._

 _"What do you need me to do?" asked Ruby, cutting off the older man's rambling._

 _Ruby's father laughed nervously._

Ruby sighed at the memory that went through her head. Due to some mishaps with the roof, Ruby's father had decided to call a woodshop in Vale to place an order. Mind you, Ruby was the one who had to tell her father about the problem in the first place before he frantically made the scroll-call. The only problem with that call was the fact that in his rush, Ruby's father didn't realize that he set the date to be the day of freshmen orientation at Signal, something no instructors could miss unless they wished to risk their jobs.

 _Perhaps I should have made sure to check on what date he planned._

A loud ding was suddenly heard overhead signaling that the pilot had turned on the intercom.

 **"This is your pilot speaking, we are beginning our approach to Vale. Please make sure you have all your personal belongings as we make our descent. Thank you for flying with us and enjoy your time in Vale."**

It was easy to tell due to the rather lifeless droning from the pilot making it obvious that he had likely recited these lines many times before just as Ruby heard that same greeting word-for-word every time she had to go to Vale.

 _I think someone needs a change of pace._

Soon enough the dust ship docked at the airport and all the passengers filed out before scattering in different directions as they headed off to do whatever they set out to do in the city. Ruby made to do so as well stating a quick farewell to her father who replied with yet another apology as he made his way towards Signal. It was fortunate that Ruby knew where the woodshop was thanks to the man who owned it being an old friend of her father's. She had gone there many times in order to pick up materials for some of the upgrades she made; wood was a very useful material after all.

"Let's cross the street right now, honey."

Ruby idly let her eyes drift over towards the source of the voice only to see a woman tugging on the arm of her daughter as they hurriedly crossed the street. It seemed that the two were in a rush to get somewhere, but Ruby knew better. She was aware of the fact that the two were walking at an idle pace before then, window shopping until the mother spotted her approaching and went out of her way to avoid crossing paths with Ruby.

 _"You kind of have this… weird aura that says, 'Don't talk to me or I'll kill you'."_

That was what her sister had told her when she walked with Ruby one day to pick up her shotgun gauntlets. While it was a rather dramatic way to phrase it, it still was fairly accurate in the fact that it kept people from interacting with her, but in all honesty Ruby couldn't find it with her to care all that much for this.

 _I've stopped caring about the fact that my own uncle ignores me, so why should I care about what random strangers think?_

Thus Ruby turned her eyes back towards the path she was walking, not sparing the mother and the child another glance. Ruby also ignored the many others who gave her a wide birth as she walked instead focusing on her trek through the city streets until she came across an older looking building made of bricks. Ruby looked up at a rather small wooden sign that hung by metal chains from a simple metal bar that was bolted to the brick wall. The sign read:

 **Simon's Woodshop**

It was simple and got the message across, just like the owner who came up with the name. Ruby spared the sign a glance before she walked up to the door and opened it. Upon entering the building, Ruby's nostrils were immediately assaulted by the smell of freshly cut wood and cigarette smoke. Ruby continued on idly taking note of the few people that were there working with the various tools available at the woodshop.

"Oh. Ruby," stated a monotonous voice.

Ruby looked over at the speaker to see a man leaning against a wall, his arms crossed and a cigarette in his mouth. The man himself was fairly decently built but his height made him appear scrawny with the fact that he was wearing a red plaid shirt that was a size too big for him along with a pair of beaten and torn denim jeans and worn brown shoes. To complete the man's rather haggard appearance, was his shaggy, medium length hair, which was tied up into a messy ponytail and his dull grey eyes.

"Simon," Ruby replied in a similar fashion.

Simon and Ruby shared a stare down for a while, neither willing to back down before Simon finally allowed a ghost of a smile to appear on his face.

"Good to see you again."

Ruby gave her own smile.

"Likewise."

Simon looked around Ruby, searching for a certain someone before looking back towards Ruby.

"Tai messed up again?"

"Yup."

"Figures."

Simon let out an exasperated sigh as he started playing with his shirt's collar, a habit that Ruby noticed Simon had ever since she first met him. And had seen him do once in a while in all the times she came here. Honestly Simon was like Ruby's second uncle with how much she hung out with him.

 _Almost more of an uncle to me than Qrow._

While a venomous thought it was also sadly true. Unlike those who were related to Ruby by blood as well as the strangers that walked the streets, Simon was the only who truly spoke to Ruby eye-to-eye. He was blunt and honest, two traits that Ruby found severely lacking when she interacted with her father or her sister while interaction with her real uncle was nonexistent. Simon was another reason Ruby came to the city, making it a habit to visit him whenever she was in Vale. Simon allowed her to hang out in the shop as long as she wanted so long as she didn't disturb the customers. Most of her visits, Ruby spent time fixing up some of the older equipment around the shop while they weren't being used as a way to pay Simon back for all that he did for her. While he saw it as a trivial thing, to Ruby it meant the world to her. He was a big reason why Ruby even did most of the things she did for her father.

"Honesty I sometimes wonder how that dumbass even got the certification to teach little kids how to swing dangerous weapons around," said Simon as he pushed off the wall he was leaning on and trudged over towards a nearby workbench motioning Ruby to follow.

Ruby walked along with Simon with a small smile on her face.

"Well, life is full of mysteries isn't it?" she asked.

Simon let out a snort,

"Your father being the biggest of them all," he stated idly as he stopped in front of the bench where Simon took out a piece of paper from his pocket which was crumpled up due to Simon stuffing it into his pocket without a care in the world, "So Tai ordered some replacement pieces in order to patch some weathering on your roof right?"

Ruby nodded in confirmation. Simon looked down at the paper before he took his cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled allowing a trail of smoke to escape in a long stream.

"Well unfortunately the wood's not here yet," stated Simon as tugged on his collar again.

Ruby lifted a brow.

"That's new, did your usual supplier bail on you?"

Simon let out another snort.

"No, they're out of business because of shitty management."

Ruby let out a sniff of amusement.

"A long time coming I suppose."

"Yeah."

"So who's the new supplier?" asked Ruby as she leaned on the workbench they were near.

Simon sighed as he placed his cigarette back in his mouth.

"Got called up from another old friend up north, apparently the guy is a woodsman now and offered to sell me some good quality lumber for a fairly cheap price," he stated, "I guess this is what I get for making a decision just for the hell of it."

Ruby lifted a brow.

"When did you _not_ make a decision 'just for the hell of it'?"

"The day I became your 'uncle'," stated Simon as he surveyed the shop, "But that was probably the only time."

Ruby couldn't help but feel humbled at the simple comment as she lowered her head.

"…Simon…"

Simon let out a sigh through his nose.

"Idiot, I told you many times before that thanks isn't necessary, it's the least I can do since that Tai can't seem to do his job as a father right at the moment."

Ruby smiled at the floor and allowed a comfortable silence to settle between them even as the ambiance of the woodshop took hold again. That moment was fleeting however as the entrance was suddenly thrown open, the sound of the door slamming the wall startling all the occupants of the building save for Ruby and Simon who simply looked over. Standing there was a burly looking man with a bushy beard and ginger colored hair. He looked like the stereotypical image of a lumberjack. The man looked around before his gaze fell upon Simon before he let out a mighty laugh.

"Simon!" the man hollered, his powerful voice reverberating off the walls of the enclosed space, Ruby could have sworn she felt the floor shake, "It has been too long my friend!"

"Not long enough," muttered Simon as he started picking at his ear with his pinky.

Ruby caught a small smirk on Simon's face, however telling her that he was at least a little happy to see his old friend again. The other man, apparently having heard Simon let out another booming laugh.

"Now, now there's no need to be so harsh!" he stated jovially, "After all I did just drive across the entire country of Vale to see you!"

Simon rolled his eyes.

"Did you also remember to bring in the wood?"

The man let out a pout of indignation.

"Woah there now, unlike Little Tai, I take care to handle important business!"

Simon rolled his eyes again while Ruby observed the other man wondering how he knew her father. As if sensing the extra pair of eyes on him, the burly man looked over towards Ruby.

"Oh? Who's this now?"

Simon closed his eyes before he placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"This is Ruby, 'Little Tai's' daughter," he said before he motioned his hand towards the man, "Ruby, this is Torvald."

Torvald, as Ruby now knew, studied her for a while, his expression unreadable, which slightly unnerved Ruby before he put on another smile.

"Pleasure to meet you!" he stated holding his hand out.

Ruby let out a polite smile and shook his hand. He had a very strong grip, not that it really bothered Ruby.

"Pleasure to meet you," she said.

 _The pleasure is all yours._

"Well let's go see to what you brought and make sure it's everything," said Simon as he made his way between Ruby and Torvald towards the door.

"Why don't have any faith in me?" grumbled Torvald as followed Simon outside.

 _Thank you Simon._

Ruby watched as the two walked out the door, taking note of the way the two talked back and forth as old friends should. Suddenly Ruby felt like she shouldn't be there. With that thought, Ruby pushed off the workbench and made her way towards the door as well. She knew Simon wouldn't mind if she left without saying goodbye, she'd be back soon anyway… when there was less company around. And so Ruby made to go back home, back to her simple, quite life… or so she would have if not for the fact that she ran right into what felt like a wall. Letting out a small sound of surprise, Ruby fell backwards only for a pair of rather warm hands to save her from the concrete floor.

"Sorry, you okay there?"

Ruby looked up and met eyes with her savior and what she saw was the ocean.

* * *

Jaune had expected many things from this trip.

Yesterday, after Jaune had that run in with the Wolfgang, Torvald approached him again stating that he had a delivery to make with a new client down at Vale. It wasn't very strange for this to happen especially since while Sol Harbor's main buyer was Atlas, they were still considered Valean. Torvald had asked… no… more stated that Jaune was to come with him and Jaune, in the state of mind he was in didn't really have the energy nor drive to complain.

 _"It'll be good to see new sights every once in a while, no?"_ Torvald had said as they loaded Torvald's large semi with a few of the logs that they had chopped down that morning.

Jaune agreed to this statement. He hadn't actually been to the main city of Vale, most of his life was spent in the village that he grew up in. Perhaps what he needed was a change in atmosphere to clear his head and calm down his nerves. A real plus was that the Wolfgang wouldn't be able to follow him all the way to Vale too.

And so the two made the ten-hour drive there and Jaune had known it would likely be a tedious journey due to the fact that both would be sitting in a truck for a very long time. Jaune spent the first couple of hours napping before his uncle told Jaune to drive so that could nap. Jaune didn't have a problem with this, especially since his father had taught him how to handle a semi at a very young age in hopes that Jaune would be able to help out with the family business. There were a few pit stops for bathroom or food breaks where Jaune would immediately be surrounded by the local critters all while the local Grimm would slink into the shadows, their red eyes balefully watching from afar. These two things were also what Jaune had come to expect and also made him glad that he went with his uncle.

Upon reaching the wall of the main city, Jaune got to watch Torvald argue with the Valean security about "protocol" due to the fact that visitors through ground transportation was apparently rare and the security officers at the time had forgotten how the procedure went. While amusing, the whole ordeal took an hour to rectify and afterwards Jaune was able to see a sight that he had never seen before: Buildings made of metal and glass that towered over any of the wooden houses back home, black roads of asphalt designated specifically for cars and trucks and concrete side walks specifically made for pedestrians that were a far cry from the dirt roads Jaune had walked, and finally the amount of people that were there. This was without taking note of the technology that was available there, the first time that Jaune saw a dust ship flying by Jaune couldn't stop staring at it until his Uncle finally told him what it was. Jaune had remembered the description of Vale through Marissa, who had read many books on what city life was like, but books could never compare to the real thing.

Thus after allowing Jaune to gawk at the city, Torvald drove them to their destination, brick building with an old sign that read:

 **Simon's Woodshop**

Jaune remembered wondering if the owner of the shop was as lazy as he was. Torvald had told Jaune wait by the truck while he went in to speak to an old friend and thus Jaune waited by the entrance of the shop keeping a watchful eye on the truck. As Jaune waited, he got to observe an oddity, that oddity being that the people who passed by him on the sidewalk seemed to start off looking tired and slightly miserable only to leave a bit happier when they passed by him… Perhaps that was just Jaune over thinking things. Besides that, the local birds still flocked around him as expected and Jaune even caught a few sewer rats surfacing and gathering nearby only to hide more in the shadows when the door was thrown open. Torvald walked out with a rather worn-out looking man about half Torvald's size (mostly due to the fact that Torvald was basically a giant). The two seemed to be in a deep conversation with each other about a past they shared, something that Jaune couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of before he shook it off and made to help his uncle with whatever he needed.

The events that followed would forever be engrained in Jaune's memory. As Jaune walked, the door suddenly opened forcing Jaune to stop short to allow the person to pass him, only for that person to run right into him before falling backwards. Using his fast reflexes, Jaune managed to grab the person before they fell to the floor saying a quick apology with a nervous smile on his face as he took care that his monstrous strength didn't hurt the person in his grasp. When he finally met the eyes of the girl, as he found out now that he got a good look, before him, what he saw glowing silver.

Now it was the present time and Jaune was frozen in his position staring into the eyes of the strange girl who ran into him with the most mesmerizing silver eyes that he had every seen. How much time had passed? Seconds? Hours? Jaune couldn't really tell in the trance he was in.

"Are ya going to kiss her or what?"

The spell was broken by the boisterous sound of his uncle calling him and soon he realized that he was holding the girl for a very awkward amount of time. He immediately set her upright, let go and backed off, his face beet red.

"Gah! Sorry!" he yelped waving his hands in front of his face.

It didn't help that the girl continued to stare at him with a blank expression on her face; her eyes seemed to stare into his soul. Jaune scratched the back of his head awkwardly before he finally managed to take in the rest of the girl's appearance. She was fairly tall compared to most girls he had seen back home, her hair was long, straight, and raven-colored with red tips, a few of the bangs slightly shielding her left eye and really pronounced her face due to her skin being paler than most people had seen. The girl wore a black jacket over a maroon shirt, a pair of dark blue denim jeans and black traveling boots. Completing the look and likely the most second most noticeable thing the girl had (the first being her eyes) was a bright red scarf that was wrapped around the girl's neck.

 _She's still staring at me._

Jaune stole a glance at his uncle who simply smiled back rather mischievously, which meant that Jaune was not going to be receiving any help from his uncle anytime soon. Jaune then met eyes with the haggard man who stared back at him with narrowed, dull grey eyes. The silent message was simple: mess up and you're in for a world of pain. Jaune gulped before looking back at the girl… who was still staring.

"Uh…" he started a memory from his father suddenly flashing in his mind.

 _"Remember my son! Ladies always like confidence!"_

Jaune kept back a grimace at the memory.

 _I don't think that helps me in this situation, Dad!_

Thus Jaune simply followed his instinct. He smiled his brightest smile and stated a simple phrase:

"Hi! I'm Jaune!"

Suddenly girl before Jaune blinked for the first time since she met eyes with him. Then she blinked again. And then a third time before she finally seemed to realize the situation she was in. A pink tinge appeared on her cheeks before she seemed to quickly school her features and put on a bright, polite smile she spoke in a wonderfully melodic voice.

"I'm Ruby, nice to meet you."

Jaune found himself at a lost for words, not knowing how to respond. Ruby, as she was named, seemed to take that decision right out of his hands as she kept talking.

"Sorry, but I really need to get going, thanks for catching me, Jaune."

Then like that, she was gone. Jaune only managed to get a glimpse of her red scarf as she walked passed him and into the crowd before she disappeared from sight, making Jaune wonder if it was all just a dream.

"Oy, you gonna stand there all day, lover boy?" called his uncle.

Jaune shook himself from his stupor and turned to his uncle apologetically.

"Sorry Uncle Tor kinda got a bit sidetracked."

"And then some," stated Torvald with a cheeky grin.

Jaune simply looked to the side, heat making its way to his head as embarrassment continued to kick in.

"Let's just get this over with, day light's burning," stated the other man.

Jaune looked over towards him again only to almost physically flinch as the man seemed to continue to stare at Jaune rather balefully.

 _Great, someone else that doesn't like me, that was fast._

Jaune bit back a sigh as he continued to smile ready to help his uncle with whatever task this man had set for them. Focus was a bit hard to grasp, however, as his mind was still lingered upon the colors of red and silver. Jaune had expected many things, but this was one of the things he definitely wasn't expecting.

* * *

Ruby sat upon the dust ship back to Patch suddenly feeling colder than she had ever been before. She hugged herself as the image of a stranger with blonde hair, sun-kissed skin and ocean blue eyes resurfaced to the front of her mind.

The boy, despite being a stranger, despite not knowing who Ruby was, met her in the eyes; something that only Simon was able to do. Ruby still remembered the warmth she felt upon looking at his eyes and she remembered basking in it, even as the boy tried to dispel the awkward situation that had surely arose due to her constant staring. The warm feeling was a good feeling… as well as a terrifying one. Thus Ruby found herself retreating into her shell, simply greeting Jaune with a polite smile and bidding him a polite farewell before making her escape into the crowds. She had hoped that getting away from him would get rid of these strange thoughts in her head, but it only served to make things worse.

 _"Hi! I'm Jaune!"_

He said those words with so much warmth behind them and that bright smile seemed to light up the entire world around her. Ruby reached up and gripped onto the scarf around her neck as she closed her eyes, her mind suddenly filled with the grand blue ocean and the golden sun.


	5. Chapter 4: A Question of Who

**Chapter 4: A Question of Who**

"Ruby?"

Ruby blinked before she looked over at her father who sat at the kitchen table with a plate of food before him. It took her a while to realize that she too was sitting at the table with a plate of food in front of her as well. It took her longer still to remember that it was 8:00AM… Ruby looked back down at the plate in front of her, which was a simple pasta dish that she was planning on making for dinner tonight… that she apparently made for breakfast instead. Ruby felt the urge to slam her face into the table and groan, but held herself back, knowing that a face full of pasta was the last thing she would need.

"Er… you okay, Ruby?"

Ruby looked back over at her father who was still looking at her with a rather perplexed look on his face. Honestly Ruby couldn't blame him. This was the first time that Ruby had done something this drastically wrong in…

 _No. Do not let yourself wander there._

Ruby took a deep breath to calm herself before she looked over at her father again with her usual deadpan.

"I'm fine Dad, just feeling a bit off today is all," she said.

Her father started to scratch his cheek as he looked off towards the side.

"I… see…"

The man looked like he wanted to say more, but chose to keep his mouth shut as he usually did. Having a normal conversation with her father was non-existant these days, usually due to the fact that the few times that her father tried were during the moments when she was busy with food preparation or working on upgrades. At this point, however Ruby had grown used to this fact and it didn't really matter at the moment anyway.

 _Well luckily it seems that I've been working on autopilot and nothing else seems to be out of place…_

Ruby paused in that thought before she stood up and walked over towards the kitchen counter and surveyed everything. Nothing out of the ordinary it seemed… Ruby's eyes landed on the cutting board.

 _Why is this here? This should be in the sink…_

Ruby suddenly noticed a certain portion of the cutting board was missing. Ruby then looked over towards the sink and found the handle part of the cutting board sitting in the sink, completely cut from the rest of the board. Ruby sighed heavily knowing what this meant.

 _All of this because I couldn't focus all morning._

Ruby knew who was to blame for this as well, if her thoughts of a certain blonde indicated as much. Just the mere thought caused her to move into a trance before Ruby caught herself.

 _No Ruby, focus._

Yet despite her own admonishing, Ruby still found her thoughts beginning to wander towards that meeting just outside of the woodshop. Ruby could still remember every detail of the boy's face, how blue his eyes were, how soft his blonde hair looked, how strong he felt when she had crashed into him, and how warm his hands felt when he caught her…

Heat immediately started to make its way towards Ruby's face as she caught herself before she delved any deeper into those thoughts.

 _Damn it…_

Ruby took a deep breath before she took on the task of gathering the cutting board… or rather the strips of wood that was the cutting board, and taking out towards the wood disposal bin outside where she would figure out what to do with it later. On her way out she saw Zwei who perked his head up and looked at her with a cocked head, which always signified that he was worried for her. Ruby stopped and rubbed Zwei's head affectionately before she continued on with a look of determination on her face.

 _All right, I just need to focus on the day ahead; one dumb meeting with a random stranger shouldn't effect me this much… even if he was the only person that seemed to actually see me…_

Ruby felt herself slouch.

 _This is going to be hard._

Ruby sighed again before she walked outside and stared out at the overcast morning air that was the norm for Patch. She took a moment to bask in the quiet ambience of the Patch's forest, the natural cold calming her once more. Perhaps a walk was what she needed. Ruby looked behind her to see Zwei standing at the doorway with a dog's version of an expectant look on his face. Ruby smiled slightly.

"C'mon then Zwei, let's go on a walk," she said.

Zwei immediately bounded out past Ruby and stopped just down the path looking back with another expectant look. Ruby shook her head in amusement before she walked back to shut the front door.

"Hey Dad I'm going to take Zwei for a walk!" called Ruby as she closed the door.

Ruby thought she heard a sound of acknowledgement, but didn't care to be sure. She had too much on her mind at the moment. Ruby then walked up to Zwei who sat patiently where he had been before. Ruby looked down at Zwei with a smile.

"Ready to go?" asked Ruby.

Zwei let out a bark in answer before getting up and running a lap around Ruby's legs showing his excitement. Ruby let out a small chuckle before she walked down the route she took every morning knowing Zwei would be close behind. The walk started of pleasantly enough, with Ruby enjoying the cool breeze against her exposed skin and Zwei running around to sniff at every little nook and cranny of the little path they were on even though Ruby was sure he had already sniffed each one of those spots several times already.

This was what Ruby needed. Something that was normal to her, something where she felt in control. Ruby exhaled deeply, taking in the fresh morning air and closing her eyes as she let muscle memory take hold. It was in this meditative trance that she was able to be free of all her troubles, most of them usually caused by her father's clumsy antics. Yet today was different.

 _"Hi! I'm Jaune!"_

The voice echoed throughout her mindscape penetrating the sense of peace that Ruby had created for herself. Ruby frowned a bit trying to block out the memory, using her years of practice on meditation to combat this distraction that was making itself known. Yet despite her best efforts, the voice persisted and would not budge an inch, much like that of a stubborn bull. It was as if the boy she had met for only a fleeting moment was standing right in front of her shouting with a defiant voice, "Notice me!"

This little cycle continued for a moment longer before Ruby let out a sigh of frustration and opened her eyes.

 _So much for a peaceful walk._

Ruby continued on walking on the path, but did so in a rather sour mood as she tried and failed to get this pesky thought out of her head.

 _I never allowed such things to bother me before, so why is this happening to me now?_

Ruby felt herself walking faster.

 _What is it about this guy that I can't get him out of my head? Who the hell does he think he is barging into my life like this?!_

Ruby stopped short suddenly feeling the need to hit something. With a closed fist, she reared her arm back to take out her frustration on a nearby tree… only for her arm to meet no resistance. Ruby blinked before she looked over towards the tree she was supposed to hit, wondering if she missed only to see the tree starting to fall over, a clean cut through the section where Ruby's arm passed through.

"Ah," was all Ruby could say.

With that, the tree continued its descent until it crashed down to the floor startling all the nearby Netherhawks, their indignant caws filling the air. Ruby sheepishly rubbed the side of her neck as she internally berated herself for forgetting who she actually was.

 _Of course I'm not going to be able to take my frustrations out on a poor tree without there being consequences…_

Suddenly Ruby remembered that she was in the presence of company and slowly looked behind her to see Zwei looking at the fallen tree with a rather perplexed look on his face. Ruby stood frozen wondering what he would do next until finally Zwei moved. Ruby followed his movement with her eyes as he walked up to the tree, sniffed it, and then proceeded to take a leak on it.

Ruby felt herself relax with a slight laugh at this. Of course Zwei wouldn't care, he was too loving for that to happen, to Zwei as long as you loved him, he would love you back no matter what you were, because that's just what dogs did. Ruby blinked and looked up at Zwei again.

Besides Simon, Zwei was another individual that didn't really care about who or what Ruby was or how she acted. Loving her unconditionally as a family member. While it may be unfair to compare members of her family to a dog, the point remained… that a _dog_ gave her more love than those of blood.

 _Why am I thinking this?_

Ruby had never thought of her relationship with her family in such a light for a long time. She had long thought that she had accepted the fact that she was forever to be shunned as punishment for murdering her own mother. Apparently… she was to be proven wrong. She missed the feeling of being loved by another human being. She missed the warmth, she missed the laughter, she missed being _happy_.

 _I never thought like this before… why now?_

As if sensing his master's distress, Zwei walked up and rubbed his head against Ruby's leg. Ruby knelt down and wrapped Zwei into a hug, the little animal making no move to resist.

"What is happening to me Zwei?" asked Ruby.

Zwei simply let out a whine; an answer that wasn't really an answer for Ruby couldn't understand animal speech. Still Ruby continued on, if only to try and settle her confused thoughts.

"Why do I feel this way?"

For so long Ruby had deceived herself into thinking that she was okay, that she was going to be fine living life pretty much on her own. She made herself believe that she could live without the warm affection of a family to lean back on. She built up her own emotional fort on what she thought was a solid foundation of tolerance and acceptance.

It only took a brief run-in with a random stranger with blonde hair and blue eyes who looked at her with more warmth than anyone in her family ever did to completely tear it all down.

 _No._

Ruby closed her eyes.

 _This is only a fleeting feeling. It's my own selfish desires talking right now._

Ruby opened her eyes again and stood up, releasing Zwei who sat still looking up at his master with concerned eyes. Ruby smiled back at him, but not with the same light as she usually did.

"C'mon Zwei, let's go back."

Zwei didn't make a sound; he simply trotted along side Ruby as she made her way back to the house looking up at her with the same expression as before. Perhaps Ruby could fool herself, but apparently she couldn't fool her dog. Not that she wanted to think of that right now. She was stronger than she was before and would not give in to her own emotional, selfish subconscious. Thus was why Ruby schooled her features into a stoic mask. It was why she put the thoughts behind her, coldly forcing them into the back of her mind. It was also why she pointedly ignored the existence of a lone tear that made its way down her cheek.

* * *

"Achoo!"

"Whoa there my boy!" chortled Torvald, "Let's try to keep the sneezing to a minimum while we're handling heavy duty material!"

Jaune rubbed his nose sheepishly.

"Sorry Uncle Tor I wasn't expecting it," said Jaune as he continued to heft the log he was carrying over his shoulder.

"I don't think anybody was!" laughed Torvald as he continued on, the other end of the log on his shoulder.

After staying at a local motel near the woodshop, Jaune and his uncle woke up bright and early in order to move the logs into the shop so that they could be shaped into whatever they were meant to be. The shop owner, Simon, as Jaune soon found out his name to be, had given Torvald an extra set of keys so that he could do just that.

That level of trust was something Jaune admired about their friendship, and they must have been friends for quite a while for that level of trust to develop.

 _Something I'll probably never have._

Jaune immediately put the dark thought to the back of his mind. It was not something he was going to think about right now. Not when he was in the presence of company as sharp as Torvald. Not that his uncle would allow him to mope regardless.

"You know Jaune, there is a saying that whenever you sneeze, it means someone is thinking of you," stated Torvald.

Jaune couldn't help but roll his eyes at this.

"I know of that, Marissa told me after reading a book about superstitions," said Jaune.

Torvald let out a laugh.

"Hah! That sounds like that little bookworm alright!" stated Torvald, "But perhaps it holds true in your case."

Jaune nervously scratched the back of his head knowing where his uncle was going with this but stubbornly continued to deny it.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come now Jaune, do you really think I'm just going to let that little moment with that girl go?" asked Torvald, grinning gleefully back at Jaune, "That has to be the first time I've ever seen you absolutely smitten! Oh I can't wait to see the look on Ralof's face when we get back!"

Jaune felt his face heat up as he looked to the side.

"I wasn't smitten," grumbled Jaune weakly.

"Your weak answer tells me otherwise!"

Jaune simply huffed as the two placed down the log onto a growing pile next to what Jaune assumed to be the woodshop's sawmill. It looked a bit more hi-tech and pristine than the wooden sawmill back at Sol Harbor. It also seemed to be the only machine that had a room of its own given the fact that there were no other machines in the large room. Plus the fact that this room had a large 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' sign plastered on it gave Jaune the feeling that this machine was rather special to Simon.

"Did you know that the girl that you were having a staring contest with built this?" asked Torvald.

Jaune blinked and looked back at Torvald in wonder.

"She… built this?" he asked in amazement, not able to care about Torvald's obvious jab.

"She apparently pretty much built every machine in the shop!" stated Torvald, "A real genius you have your eyes on!"

"It's not like that," said Jaune off-handedly, staring back at the machine.

It was then that memories of that meeting resurfaced. Honestly, if it weren't for his uncle's constant jabs about the event, Jaune was sure he would have thought it only a dream. The moment was so fleeting, so brief, and so… dreamlike. Jaune barely had time to take in her face, in fact, to Jaune's secret dismay; he had forgotten what she looked like, hell, he even forgot her _name_. The only thing he remembered were her striking silver eyes, and her bright red scarf. His memories taunted him, with these characteristics egging him to remember something that he could not. Whenever he came close to remembering, the memory would slip away, leaving him with only the colors of silver and red. It was as if some unknown entity was trying to force him to forget even as reality brought it all back.

 _This is getting confusing._

"Jaune? Remnant to Jaune are you there?"

Jaune shook his head and looked back at his uncle who looked at him with a brow lifted and his hands on his hips.

"I swear my boy if you keep looking off into space like that I might just have to drag you to the nearest hospital to get examined for a concussion."

Torvald paused before staring up at the ceiling in thought.

"Wait, are you even capable of getting a concussion?"

Jaune rolled his eyes before he took one more glance at the machine before he addressed his uncle again.

"So should we get the rest of the logs?" asked Jaune.

Torvald looked back down from the ceiling to look at Jaune with a perplexed expression.

"Jaune… were you really not paying attention at all?" he asked, "We've just unloaded the last log a while ago… don't tell me you've been sleep walking the entire time we've been working!"

Jaune blinked before he looked at the pile behind him only to realize that it was true. All the logs were unloaded. Jaune scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Eheh… that might be the case…" he said nervously.

"And I was telling you the most amazing story from back in my childhood!" grumbled Torvald.

 _Now I'm glad I was sleepwalking._

Jaune kept that thought to himself, but it was a huge relief all the same. While Jaune loved his uncle, when it came to story telling, Torvald would always find a way to make even the most interesting subject matter elongated and boring. The worse part was that Torvalds stories usually always revolved around his apparent journeys of grandeur during the time when he was still a hunter… something Jaune did not want to hear about at the moment.

"Well, it looks like I shall have to repeat it!"

"Please don't, for the sake of my sanity."

Jaune looked over towards the entrance of the building to see Simon standing there with his usual haggard appearance. Simon's dull grey eyes flicked towards Jaune for a moment, narrowing slightly, before they moved to address the wood.

"Looks like you managed to get the wood in here in good condition… a pleasant surprise."

Torvald let out a loud laugh.

"Ah Simon! Always with the passive aggressive jokes!" he chortled, "Of course we got it in at top condition! The lumberjacks of Sol Harbor have a reputation to uphold after all!"

 _We have a reputation?_

"I wasn't aware that you had a reputation," stated Simon apparently agreeing with Jaune's thoughts.

Torvald just laughed some more, not bothering to comment earning a sigh of exasperation from Simon. Jaune let out a smile before he looked back at the lone machine in the room. Once again he found his thoughts wandering back towards that meeting with the girl with silver eyes and the red scarf. It was bit frustrating to him that he couldn't remember her face.

"Oy. Blonde brat."

Jaune blinked and looked over at Simon who had his back to him.

"Huh?" Jaune managed to say.

"Good to know your intelligence is at least semi-intact," stated Simon, "Did you hear anything I said earlier?"

"Uh…"

"Of course you didn't, Torvald, you explain, I'm going out for a smoke."

With that, Simon walked back out the door, the noise the door made as it shut echoed across the massive space causing Jaune to flinch. Torvald sighed and put a hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"Don't worry about Simon, he's just a bit defensive of Ruby is all," he said.

Jaune just nodded before it struck him.

 _Ruby._

That was her name.

 _"I'm Ruby, nice to meet you."_

That was something else he for some reason forgot, but he had the name now.

 _Ruby. Ruby. Ruby. That's your name. I don't remember your face, but I know you have silver eyes, you wear a red scarf and your name is Ruby._

Jaune suddenly felt lighter, happier and also felt a sense of resolve surface.

 _I want to see her again.  
_ "Jaune my boy this is starting to get a bit old."

Jaune immediately threw himself back to the land of the living and was faced with a rather peeved looking Torvald. Jaune simply smiled brightly and scratched the back of his head again.

"Sorry Uncle Tor, what were you saying?" asked Jaune, making sure that he was paying attention this time.

At the back of his mind, however, he was repeating the girl's name over and over again.

 _Ruby. Ruby. Your name is… Ruby._

* * *

"Achoo!"

Zwei whined as he started shaking himself off.

"Sorry Zwei, I don't know where that came from."


	6. Chapter 5: Housework

**The poll for what I should write next is up! Check out my profile for more info on the choices!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Housework**

Ruby walked back into the house, her stoic expression firmly in place as she closed the door behind her, Zwei shaking himself off before rubbing himself against Ruby's leg. Ruby rubbed in on his little head once again before she made her way upstairs to shower.

"Uh, Ruby?"

Ruby bit back a sigh and looked over at her father.

"Yes?"

The man squirmed a bit where he stood as his eyes darted left and right, much like a shy new student standing in front of a classroom waiting to be introduced. Ruby briefly thought of the irony of a father standing this way to his own daughter… then again when was the last time the two actually had a father-daughter relationship? Ruby sighed as this continued for a while more.

"Are you going to stand there all day or tell me what you want to say?"

Ruby's father immediately focused in on Ruby again with a sheepish laugh.

"Er, yeah sorry, I uh… got a call from Simon."

There was a pause, which caused Ruby to lift her brow at her dad as a sign that she was listening. Her father cleared his throat nervously as before he continued on.

"He said that the wood arrived and that he'd be coming over here to fix the roof today."

Ruby brightened up a bit upon hearing that Simon would be in Patch. It was always good to talk to Simon, even if most of their conversations consisted of only a few sentences at most. He had made a few appearances in the past to fix several nuances with the house, all of them due to Ruby's father's clumsiness. Most of the time he was using his boat to ship the wood he needed to Patch before meeting up with a rental truck dealer to haul the load over to Ruby's house.

"So, uh, can I count on you to let him in and help him out with whatever he needs when he gets here?"

Ruby rolled her eyes.

 _Do you even need to ask?_

"Yes," stated Ruby out loud.

"Well… good… with that said, I've got to get to work…" said Ruby's father as he started inching past Ruby.

Ruby simply sighed as she walked towards her bedroom giving the man all the room he needed to escape out the front door. Ruby paused on the stairway to watch her father leave the memories at the back of her head once again fighting to come back.

 _"Are you afraid of me, Daddy?"_

Ruby shook her head quickly, not wanting _that_ memory to resurface. Instead she opened the door to her bedroom and walked inside to stair at the empty bedroom, more specifically the picture that sat alone on a nightstand. Ruby slowly walked up to the nightstand and picked up the picture staring at the five happily smiling faces. It was a picture that was taken only a week before the incident. A picture when everyone was happy. Ruby stared at the little girl with silver eyes clinging to her mother with a goofily large smile, looking ready to take on the world.

 _"Someday, I wanna be the greatest huntress ever! Even better than you Mommy!"_

Ruby allowed a bitter smile to come across her face as the words from her naïve past flowed to the surface. Her eyes then wandered to the blonde man holding his family together as he stuck his tongue out at the camera immaturely.

 _"Why would you want to become a huntress when you have Daddy here to protect you?"_

Ruby then turned her eyes to the young blonde girl striking a pose at the forefront of the group winking to the camera.

 _"Don't worry about a thing, sis! Just follow my lead and we'll be fine!"_

Next was the red-eyed man kneeling beside the silver-eyed girl a hand on her head as he smirked at the camera.

 _"So you want to be a huntress, eh? It's a hard path, sure you're up for it?"_

Finally, Ruby's eyes wandered to a silver-eyed woman that stood at the center of the group with a light smile that somehow shined brighter than everyone else's.

 _"It's always important to follow you dreams!"_

Ruby slowly put the picture back into place as she stared out at the foggy landscape surrounding her house. Briefly she wondered what life would have been like had she not committed the sin that haunted her.

Would her father actually have been a father?

Would her sister have been less delicate around her?

Would her uncle have spoken to her?

What would life have been like as a huntress?

Who would she have met?

Ruby shook her head as she turned away from the window.

 _No use thinking of what-ifs. That's a path long gone by now._

True, she had briefly had the chance when Ozpin himself approached her with an offer that most could not refuse and yet here Ruby was being the exception. The desire to pursue such a child-like fantasy long extinguished by the very sins that hung over Ruby's head.

Ruby breathed in deeply and exhaled, slowly allowing the thoughts of the past to fade away… yet one last question emerged from the fog, one that caught Ruby off-guard.

 _Would I have met Jaune?_

Ruby groaned in annoyance. Just when she thought she had gotten rid of the boy that plagued her thoughts, there he was again refusing to allow her to forget him.

 _Honestly, I'm starting to wonder if this is a semblance and someone is trying to prank me._

"Achoo!"

Ruby blinked. For a moment she lifted her hand to her mouth wondering if it was her who sneezed, but immediately berated herself for her own stupidity.

 _Idiot! That sneeze came from… outside._

It was then that a knock was heard at the front door, soon after Zwei's barking was heard.

"Oy, Ruby!" called Simon's voice, "You in?"

Ruby quickly made her way downstairs to answer the door. When she opened it, it revealed Simon looking as haggard as ever smoking his cigarette as per usual. Ruby felt happiness upon seeing him, but it was quickly dashed when she noticed who was standing beside him.

"Hello again Ruby!" stated Torvald, his loud voice practically echoing across the forest, startling nearby Netherhawks.

Ruby couldn't help but looking around for a certain blonde next to Torvald, but couldn't find him anywhere. The emotions that followed left Ruby befuddled as she felt both relief and… sadness?

"Sorry about the extra company," said Simon, "Torvald insisted that he come so that he could inspect Tai's house."

"I have to make sure that everything is in top condition!" argued Torvald, "You never know how the fool who built this could muck things up!"

"You do realize the 'fool' who built this house was me, right?" deadpanned Simon.

"All the more reason!"

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before he addressed Ruby again.

"Anyway, I'll be patching up the roof, just wanted to let you know before I start fixing the roof."

Ruby nodded in thanks, her eyes flicking to Torvald once again before she made to close the door when a third voice made itself known, one that made Ruby freeze.

"Alright, that was the last of the load, Uncle Tor, when do we get started?"

Ruby slowly turned towards the source of the voice only to see the very person who had haunted her thoughts all morning stood there. At first Ruby thought that she was dreaming, but when the boy turned to look at her slightly surprised before giving her another one of his bright grins somehow Ruby knew this wasn't a dream.

"Hey Ruby, fancy meeting you here!"

* * *

Jaune kept up his grin while he mentally reeled at the suddenness of Ruby's reappearance into his life. While he had hopes of seeing her again, he never would have guessed that he'd meet her so soon, at her home no less!

Apparently while Jaune was spacing out, Simon and Torvald were discussing patchwork on someone's house. Torvald had apparently insisted that he and Jaune came with apparently speaking high praises about Jaune's affinity to everything wood related. Simon had been hesitant at first, but after a bit more convincing from Torvald, Simon eventually gave in leaving Jaune to wonder why he had been so against the idea.

 _Now I know._

Back to reality, Ruby still stood there staring at him with a blank look on her face. If Jaune had to guess, she was just as surprised as he was about this situation they had before them, something that Jaune couldn't fault her for.

 _Still, is staring at someone for a long time her quirk?_

The intensity of her stare started to make Jaune sweat a bit as he started to tug on his collar. He was about to ask her if she was okay, but Simon beat him to the punch, not so lightly shoving him out of the way in the process.

"Oy Ruby, you still with us?"

Ruby seemed be knocked out of her trance once Jaune was pushed aside as she focused upon Simon.

"Yeah… I'm fine."

Her silver eyes made their way towards Jaune one last time before she closed the door disappearing into the house. Jaune didn't know how to feel about that reaction to his greeting, he felt some sadness that she didn't acknowledge him as well as happiness at actually being able to see her again.

 _I just wish our meetings were more than just me saying hello and her staring at me._

Jaune shook his head.

 _Enough, I've got a job to do._

While Ruby still took center stage in his mind, something that was able to temporarily keep his attention elsewhere was his love for working with anything wood related. It was Jaune's goal to one day build a solid wooden house of his own that would be able to stand the tests of time. He had already seen two, the first being the house his father and Torvald built to house the Arc Family and now this house, which was apparently built by Simon.

Jaune ran his hand against the wooden walls all made up of what looked to be logs stacked up on top of each other. It was a great way to make a solid structure to the house due the fact that entire logs were keeping the building up. The only problem with this build was the fact that it took so much wood, thus explaining why this clearing surrounding the lone house was so vast. Jaune even spied several stumps that stood as a testament to what had happened here.

Jaune closed his eyes as he lightly tapped on the wood with his knuckles, listening to the sound the wood made as it vibrated with each rap. Due to Jaune's monstrous strength, with just a light tap, he was able to determine the integrity of a structure by a simply touch of his hand. Jaune still remember what happened to a certain poorly built storage shack back in Sol Harbor when Jaune stumbled into it. This house, due to the aforementioned way this particular house was built, it was able to pass this test with flying colors.

Jaune opened his eyes before looking towards his uncle and Simon whom had been watching him, Torvald with a proud grin and Simon with a brow lifted. Jaune simply gave them a grin.

"Where should we start?" asked Jaune.

Simon looked at Jaune for a bit longer before he sighed.

"First we need to get that roof patched up, I'll leave that job to you, kid," said Simon, "Torvald, I need your help looking for anything else that might be damaged so we can replace it with the extra wood we brought."

Torvald simply gave a nod, taking on a more serious expression. Any of those who love their jobs would do the same; after all if you love your job then you'd want to do it to the best of your ability. At least that's what Jaune's father always told him.

"Did you hear me this time, kid?"

Jaune shook himself from his thoughts and nodded.

"I'm fixing up the roof," said Jaune, "I just need to know where the damaged portion is."

Simon smirked a bit at this.

"You'll have to find it, because I sure as hell don't know where it is."

Jaune blinked at this. He had thought that they'd know where the damage was but apparently the client wasn't keen on details. Jaune looked back towards the house, wondering if it was Ruby who made that call… it was very likely, but for some reason didn't feel right. Still, at least Jaune knew that it was on the roof.

"I'll find it," said Jaune as he backed away to give himself ample room before standing in a ready position.

He sensed Simon's eyes on him as he did so, confusion practically radiating from the man.

"What are you-?"

The rest of Simon's words were drowned out as Jaune unleashed the built up energy in his legs jumping high up, onto the roof of the building where he landed as gently as he could, he feet causing a resounding thump. Jaune then turned to look back down at the two men below. His uncle was laughing loudly for some reason and when Jaune looked at Simon he understood why. The look on Simon's face was priceless, with his eyes wide open and his mouth gaping so much that his cigarette fell out. For the man's benefit, Jaune didn't let his own mirth show on his face, instead going right to business.

"No need to worry about me, I'll find the damaged portion and then I'll come down and get the wood, if you need the ladder it's leaning on the side of the house."

With that, Jaune turned around at started his search easily finding the damaged wooden planks due to four smaller wooden planks of a different wood being sloppily hammered into it, like they would somehow make things better. Jaune shook his head at this before he started to make his way down to where he had placed all the wood, hopping down onto one of the lower deck roofs, about to finish his descent when he felt eyes upon him again.

Jaune turned and once again his world was full of silver as Ruby stared at him from her window.

* * *

Ruby didn't know if this was fate's way of messing with her or just a very tiring coincidence, but there the boy was again, right in front of her, somehow jumping down from her house's roof. She had hoped that after that awkward "exchange" at the front door, she could just hide away in her room and just forget the event happened. Yet as she sat there, there was the feeling of melancholy she had felt earlier in the morning when she was walking Zwei, as if there was a chance that was slowly slipping away no matter how much she told herself otherwise.

 _"The question of 'what if' is probably the saddest question of all, so you have to make sure you have as little 'what ifs' as possible."_

The words of her mother echoed in her head once again, as if her mother was speaking to her from beyond the grave, pushing her to do something more than what she currently was doing. Ruby tried to shake it away, she tried to reinforce the wall that separated her from the world that shunned her, but somehow, this boy that was currently perched next to her window was tearing it all down. Ruby gripped her hands into fists. She needed to know… and this boy may have the answers she sought. With this she opened the window, allowing for her to be able to speak to the now confused boy before her.

"Who are you?" asked Ruby.

Jaune blinked at her.

"My name is Jaune?" he questioned more than stated, still looking confused.

Ruby sighed, of course she wouldn't get anywhere by just asking such a generic question. Yet she had no idea how to formulate what she wanted to ask into a question that made sense, hell she had many questions, but what did she want to ask first?

"Do you live here?"

None of them it seemed, for Jaune took the chance right out of her hands, but this question seemed a bit unnecessary.

"Yes I do," Ruby stated.

Jaune scratched the back of his head, laughing lightly.

"Right, of course you do, you're in the house after all."

Ruby couldn't help but listen closely to the way Jaune laughed. It was a pleasant sound, but Ruby couldn't figure out why she found it so much more pleasant. For the most part the way Jaune laughed was similar to her father's awkward laugh when he did something wrong. Yet something stopped her from finding annoyance from it.

"Well it's a very peaceful place that you have here," said Jaune as he looked around. "Not a lot of things that can disturb you."

Ruby looked at Jaune with a brow lifted.

"I would have thought you'd find this scenery disturbing," stated Ruby.

Jaune looked at her in confusion.

"Why would I? Nature is a wonderful thing to witness, plus as a lumberjack I'm more than happy to be surrounded by a forest full of trees! The fog just adds a bit of mystery to them."

Ruby took mental note of the fact that Jaune was a lumberjack.

 _A lumberjack, that tells me a bit about him… it also explains why his uncle is so burly and why they're working with Simon._

"And when the fog clears to welcome the morning sun, I'm sure this place looks even more beautiful!" Jaune continued.

Ruby took notice that Jaune had settled into a more comfortable seating position as he faced out towards the forest.

"If had a choice of where I would live the rest of my life, I think I'd choose a place like this to start building your house," said Jaune, "Whoever decided to build a house here had it right!"

 _My mother was the one who wanted to live here…_

Ruby's eyes wandered back towards the photo that sat on her nightstand.

"Well then, better get back to work, Simon will probably rip me a new one if I don't!" Ruby looked back at Jaune who had gotten up and started walking towards the edge of the roof… and there was no ladder in sight.

Before Ruby could react, Jaune leapt off without a second thought. With a sound of alarm Ruby rushed out and grabbed hold of one of his arms grunting as his weight nearly brought her down with him. Luckily she was able to plant herself on the roof by jabbing her other hand into the roof and holding it there. The dumb blonde made a sound of surprise as his momentum stopped.

"What the hell are you thinking?!" growled Ruby, "Do you want to get yourself killed?!"

Jaune blinked up at her.

"No… I was just jumping down to the floor…" he said as if that made all the sense in the world.

Ruby let out a grunt of annoyance as she pulled the boy back to the safety of the roof glaring at him for his stupidity.

"Do you realize that you were about to take a leap from about fifteen feet high?" she growled.

Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"But I figured it was the fastest way to get down just like jumping is the fastest way to get up."

Ruby buried her face in her hands.

"Of course falling is the fastest, but it can also lead to serious injur-."

Ruby stopped short.

"Wait. What did you say again?"

"That falling is the fastes-."

"No, the second part."

"Uh… that jumping is the fastest way to get up?"

Ruby stared at Jaune incredulously.

"How did you get up here in the first place?"

Jaune cocked his head.

"I jumped."

"You… jumped?"

Jaune nodded. Ruby stared at the boy before her. If what this boy told her was correct, he had the vertical leap of at least thirty-five feet, the minimum distance to clear her house's height.

"Prove it."

Silence followed the statement, and it took Ruby a while to figure out she was the one who said it. Jaune nodded to her and started making his way down again, but this time it seemed that he was taking her concern into consideration as he climbed down using the wooden beams. He then hopped onto the floor and looked back up at her.

"Ready?" he asked.

Ruby nodded unsure about what she was about to see, but feeling a bit of… excitement? Jaune in the meantime crouched low in a typical stance Ruby had seen many others take before making large leaps. The next moment would stay with Ruby forever as the boy quite literally _rocketed_ up past her towards the top of the house, his moment stopping just above the roof before he landed with a soft thud. He then looked down at her with a grin.

"And that's pretty much it."

Ruby stared up at him in amazement.

"That's… incredible!" said Ruby.

Jaune simply scratched his head sheepishly.

"Haha, I don't think it's _that_ amazing, I'm pretty sure there are hunters that can do the same."

Ruby shook her head.

"But it's usually the veteran hunters can pull off such feats of strength, you're the first I've seen to pull that off!" said Ruby excitedly before noticing something else, "And you're not even breaking a sweat!"

Jaune seemed to blush at the praise he was receiving.

"Well if we're speaking of incredible feats what about you?"

Ruby blinked.

"Me?"

"How were you able to move so fast from your window to the edge of the roof?" asked Jaune as he hopped back to the lower roof with Ruby.

Ruby suddenly felt her insecurities coming back as she looked to the side.

"Well… uh…"

"I'm not the best with numbers, but you're faster than any person I've ever seen," said Jaune with a grin, "I think you're even faster than those jet planes I've seen flying around Atlas!"

"Well… it's a part of my semblance, so…"

"Then that means we're both equally incredible!"

Ruby looked back up as Jaune's smile practically glowed. Ruby couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah… I guess," she said.

"Oy! Boy Wonder! Are you going to start to work on that roof or not?" called Simon's voice.

Jaune paled upon hearing the voice.

"Woops," he said making to get the wood.

"Hey," said Ruby.

Jaune stopped and looked over his shoulder. Ruby looked to the side and bit her bottom lip, wondering if she was making the right choice.

 _"The question of 'what if' is probably the saddest question of all, so you have to make sure you have as little 'what ifs' as possible."_

Ruby could have sworn she heard the words being whispered into her ear by an unknown entity. Ruby simply pushed the thought aside and focused on the boy in front of her.

"Do you mind if I help out?"

Jaune smiled back at her.

"Not at all."

* * *

Simon watched as the blonde kid continued to converse with Ruby as they worked on the roof. This was the first time in a long time that Simon had seen Ruby actually striking up a conversation with a stranger that was longer than a few seconds. It was also the first time in a long time that he had ever seen Ruby smile so… honestly. He focused in on the boy who smiled happily as continued to work, rambling on about something with Ruby listening intently.

 _Just who are you Jaune Arc?_

"You know, this is the first time I've seen Jaune so active."

Simon looked over at his old friend who stood next to him with his arms crossed. Torvald looked rather melancholic as he looked on at the scene before them.

"The boy has always been honest and kind, but he's also prone to passive approaches to everything."

Torvald let a small chuckle out.

"So to see him with this much energy for a simple conversation…" Torvald paused before he looked back towards Simon, "Ruby has grown to be quite the incredible girl."

Simon looked back at Jaune and Ruby both looking like they were enjoying each other's company.

"Tch, whatever let's get back to work," he grumbled.

With that he turned and started to walk away if only to hide the hopeful smile on his face.

* * *

Roman Torchwick sat bouncing a rubber ball on the walls in a rhythmic pattern. Thing about jail cells was that there was not really much to do. You had three options:

1\. Try to find an elaborate way to escape

2\. Sleep

3\. Find something to entertain you

For Roman, while the first option was enticing, he didn't really have the tools nor the means of making any sort of flashy getaway so that option was off the table, option two was too boring so that left option three and luckily Roman managed to nick this ball from one of his fellow inmates.

 _Sucker won't miss it; he's scheduled to die next week anyway._

Roman chuckled to himself as he continued to bounce the ball. It was then that several noises of violence were heard right outside his door causing Roman to smirk.

 _Right on time._

The violence continued before suddenly there was silence. A moment later the sound of his cell door opening was heard.

"Well it took ya long enough," said Roman.

"Hey, traffic was crazy."

Roman chuckled as he caught the ball and sat up.

"Funny thing about these government types, they really like putting important things inside their prisons computers," he said, "You will not believe what I managed to nab!"

"I think what's more unbelievable is how you managed to get your ass handed to you by a fifteen year old girl."

Roman turned to glare at the figure leaning against the cell doorway.

"Hey, I went easy on the kid, the plan _was_ to get captured."

"Whatever eases your wounded ego, Romey."

"Eh go die in a fire Mercury."

Mercury Black simply laughed darkly before bringing his hand to his ear.

"This is Shadow, I've received the Torch, standing by for further orders."

A feminine voice was heard over the earpiece.

 _"Received. Well done Shadow. Return home, we have much to discuss."_


	7. Chapter 6: A Bit of Exploration

**Chapter 6: A Bit of Exploration**

"You know… I don't think I'll ever get over how big the City of Vale is…" muttered Jaune.

Ruby simply hummed in response, watching Jaune as he looked around in wonder. Currently both she and Jaune were exploring Vale to take in its many "wonders". Thanks to Jaune's wood expertise and inhuman strength, the patchwork to the roof was finished in record time. Ruby remembered commenting on Jaune's expertise, praising him for his knowledge only for him to grin sheepishly and state.

 _"Well, I've been living in a wooden house myself and helped my dad with patchwork all the time."_

It was now a little after noon and the two had been helping out around Simon's shop until Torvald had pressed the two to explore a bit more to take in the sights. Simon made no comment about this, something that surprised Ruby as the man usually had at least a thing or two to say, but decided to think about that later. How could she turn down the chance to spend more time with the blonde enigma that had haunted her thoughts since her first meeting? And so here they were with Jaune currently stopping to stare at an impressively large skyscraper with a long antenna attached to it. Ruby smiled at this.

"I suppose you don't get to see any very tall buildings where you live?" asked Ruby.

Jaune looked over at Ruby and scratched the back of his head, something that Ruby noted as a social tendency, as he chuckled.

"Yeah, we're a fairly small village and every building is made out of wood," he explained, "While the wood we use is decently strong, it wouldn't be able to support something of this scale, not for a long time anyway."

Ruby nodded her head at this before she pressed further.

"Where _is_ your village?"

Jaune thought about it for a moment.

"Well… I wouldn't really be able to point it out on a map, but Sol Harbor is pretty far north from the kingdom capital."

"Oh, so you're a coastal village then?" asked Ruby wondering why a coastal village would be so into woodcutting.

Jaune smirked at this.

"Nope, we're smack dab in the middle of the northern forests, I have no idea why it was named that way… I think my sister might know…" Jaune looked up in the sky in thought as if trying to remember something.

Ruby couldn't help but shake her head in amusement. It was a rather odd name to have for a non-coastal village, but it told Ruby more about Jaune such as the fact that he had a sister.

"So you have a sister?" asked Ruby.

"Seven actually," stated Jaune, "Three older, three younger and… well technically it's four younger but one is my twin so take that as you will."

Ruby couldn't but look over at Jaune with wide eyes. Having an older sister like Yang was one thing, but life with six other sisters would be a nightmare.

"Seven sisters?" asked Ruby, "Wow."

Jaune nodded.

"Yeah… things tend to get lively around our house, especially with the triplets running amuck with their pranks," he said suddenly gaining a thousand yard stare, "I still remember the time when they almost set the entire village on fire with their latest firework prank."

Ruby tried to imagine what kind of prank would possibly require fireworks, but couldn't really think of much besides maybe a jump scare… honestly pranks were more Yang's thing ironically enough. Albeit Yang never really managed to pull a prank on Ruby despite many attempts at doing so mostly due to Ruby's strong senses. Ruby still remembered the time when Yang tried to pull some sort of door prank that involved a bucket of water and flour. The prank ended up with Yang being the one covered in flour while Ruby held the bucket of water without a drop of it on the floor. Ruby later made Yang clean up the mess with that very bucket.

"I imagine that did a lot of damage."

Jaune shrugged.

"It only took a couple of hours to fix the damage and by that point, the entire village was used to my sisters' shenanigans, in fact I think some even look forward to it."

Again Ruby shook her head in amusement. Hearing Jaune's stories of his village made her realize just how different their lives were. She lived with only her father and sister in a rather secluded home in a foggy forest surrounded by Grimm on an island. Compared to Jaune's lively village, her lone house was the very epitome of isolation. Really the similarity that the two had was the fact that they had a wooden house.

 _It's a miracle that I even met Jaune._

Whether this was a good miracle or a stroke of bad luck remained to be seen. While Ruby was enjoying her time with Jaune, a small part of her couldn't help but be pessimistic. Jaune still had no idea about the full extent of who she was mostly due to the fact that he hadn't really tried to pry into her life like she was to him. He seemed more than happy sharing the details of his life at the village to really ask anything of her. But the difference between Jaune and anyone else Ruby had known was that he filled her with a certain hope… hope that maybe he would be able to understand her… even if she didn't deserve it.

"Ruby?"

Ruby blinked and realized that she was so deep in her thoughts that she had lost track of time. She focused back upon Jaune who held a look of concern on his face. Ruby took the moment to take in Jaune's expression. So far it looked just like her father or her sister's face whenever she went into her trances, something that seemed to reinforce Ruby's decision to err on the side of caution. Yet when Ruby's eyes met Jaune's, she saw another story entirely.

Whenever she looked into the eyes of those who were supposed to be considered family, she only saw pity and subtle anger. Pity that was empty and only there to fill a moral gap. Anger that Ruby was able to pick up on no matter how well hidden which was born from accusation of a crime that Ruby had committed long ago. Jaune's eyes… they bore something different. Not pity. Not anger. They bore something else… something that chilled Ruby to the core. Those blue eyes bore knowing, as if the boy knew something about her without even needing to ask. It was at that moment that Jaune's expression turned to that of a smile even as his eyes never changed.

"C'mon Ruby, you still have to show me the rest of the city," said Jaune with a certain lilt to his voice as his tone became slightly subdued.

For a moment Ruby thought she started to see another side of Jaune, one that was hidden behind that happy-go-lucky exterior he had put up. It was like looking into the eyes of a weary war veteran whose bloody past wouldn't leave him be. Then, just like that, it was gone, the shield back to how it was before with Jaune walking ahead to continue taking in the sights. Ruby couldn't help but stare a little longer at the boy's slowly retreating back.

She had only truly started to get to know him a few hours ago on the rooftop of her very house and yet in that short time span he had made more of an impact upon her than any of those she called family. He even made more of an impact than Simon. Here she was basically interrogating him about his past in order to gauge his character due to her own paranoia born through years of isolation and all the boy had to do was share a meaningful look with her in a time of weakness and he seemed to know more about her than she did of him. It wasn't fair.

Jaune seemed to notice that Ruby wasn't following and turned to look at her with his smile still in place.

"You coming?" asked Jaune scratching his head sheepishly, "I'd rather not get lost here."

That bright smile that could outshine the brightest of stars, the persona of one that is always open and can do no harm, the warm aura that seemed to lift the spirits of all those nearby and the strength to rival the strongest of Huntsmen… Jaune seemed to fit the description of the perfect white knight in the fairy tales Ruby had remembered reading when she was a child. Yet there was more to this white-knight than meets the eye, something that Ruby witnessed only briefly, but it was enough for her to know that it was there, buried deep with the boy's soul.

Normally Ruby wouldn't have cared about the affairs of others, but for Jaune… Ruby couldn't help wanting to know more. What other mysteries could this supposedly open book be hiding? What kind of person was hiding behind that mask? The questions continued on and on each one promising possibilities both intriguing and frightening. But the relentless curiosity in Ruby's heart that had been locked away for so long was surging forth. For so long Ruby had resisted her child-like urges in order to work for redemption that would never come to be and now it finally had something it would not be chained for. And so she returned the boy's smile, barely able to keep the edge of challenge in her voice as she answered.

"Then I guess we'd better start helping you memorize certain landmarks all around the city," she stated.

Jaune blinked at Ruby a bit taken aback by Ruby's change of attitude as well as a bit confused.

"Isn't that going to take a while?" asked Jaune.

Ruby's answer to Jaune was a smile and a cheeky comment.

"Well we have all day, don't we?"

Jaune looked up in thought before he looked back down at Ruby with a smile of his own.

"Well if it's what you want, then who am I to argue?" asked Jaune, "Besides, you're fun to hangout with Ruby!"

Ruby turned away from Jaune if only to keep him from seeing her momentary lapse of control as heat went to her cheeks. After a deep breath she answered, keeping her eyes ahead.

"I find you interesting as well, Jaune," stated Ruby.

"Interesting?"

"Yes, interesting, you're… different from the company I'm used to keeping."

"Like Simon?"

Ruby nodded.

 _Honestly he's the only company I really keep but Jaune doesn't need to know that._

"Well I'm glad that I'm… interesting…" said Jaune sounding unsure of how to take Ruby's observation.

Ruby coughed awkwardly. This was where little social interaction with strangers kicked in. Ruby had always been awkward around people outside the family even before… _that_ happened. And apparently she was so awkward that she couldn't get a simple complement across without sounding crass.

 _My people skills are at a resounding zero._

"So… where are going?" asked Jaune.

Ruby blinked before looking around only to realize that the two had stopped walking. Ruby sighed heavily.

 _I really need to start paying attention to where I'm going._

With that, Ruby actually put thought into where she wanted to take Jaune; she _was_ the guide after all.

"We're going to a lot of places," stated Ruby," Vale's a huge city."

"How many places are we talking about?" asked Jaune.

"You'll lose count."

"Right…"

* * *

Jaune's feelings were a bit mixed as he continued to follow the silver-eyed girl that was acting as his impromptu tour guide. So far the conversation that he had with her was fairly one-sided with him babbling about his past with her asking questions. While Jaune didn't mind this, he also wanted to get to know Ruby a bit more. What stopped him from straight up asking, however, was the personality that Ruby had that screamed that she liked her privacy, her momentary lapse only adding to that fact.

Jaune thought back to that moment, when he saw Ruby stare at the ground… or rather through it. Whatever her thoughts, it was likely that it brought her great pain. How did Jaune know this? Because it was the look Jaune saw whenever he looked into the mirror every morning.

 _She lived through something horrible… and is trying her best to hide it._

Jaune understood this sentiment and thus found it best not to pry into her personal life, at least not until he got to know her as a person better.

 _Right now I think we have more immediate problems to deal with._

That immediate problem being how aimlessly Ruby seemed to be walking. They had spent the past couple of hours simply walking around with no real destination, with Ruby asking more about Jaune's sisters and home. Jaune was more than happy to oblige, but slowly started to notice that they weren't stopping at any landmarks like Ruby said. In fact, as time went on Jaune was starting to think they were lost.

 _But that can't be right, Simon said that Ruby's been in Vale many times!_

Jaune nodded to himself.

 _Yeah! Ruby wouldn't get lose in her home city!_

Jaune then turned to face Ruby only to see her looking around with a perplexed look on her face causing Jaune's hopes to sink.

"Ruby?" asked Jaune slowly.

Ruby looked at Jaune through the corner of her eyes.

"Yes?"

"Where are we right now?"

"Vale."

Jaune blinked at Ruby's rather snarky reply.

"Um… I meant where in Vale."

"Working on it."

Jaune bit back a sigh.

 _Yup, we're lost._

Jaune wasn't mad really; he figured that it would be pretty much impossible to memorize the layout of a city this massive. Perhaps this was just a part that Ruby never really explored and because of the conversation they were having, she lost track of where they were walking.

"Ye lost lil' lambs?"

Jaune blinked and turned his head to see a rather sickly looking man standing there with a crooked attempt of a smile on his face. Jaune smiled back.

"I don't think we are, but if you know a way back to Simon's Woodshop that would be great," said Jaune.

The man's smile seemed to grow at this.

"Oooh I don' know wer that place is… but ye ain't leavin' neither."

Jaune blinked and cocked his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Look around Jaune," stated Ruby.

Jaune looked around and saw that men who looked as sickly and crooked as the man before them surrounded the two teens. Jaune blinked at this before looking back at Ruby who didn't really seemed concerned with the situation so Jaune figured that he shouldn't really be so worried either.

"Well can you ask your friends to move? We really need to get going," said Jaune.

The man's smile turned into a sneer.

"Yer cute, now fork over all yer valuables or ther'll be trouble. Folks gotta pay the toll before walkin' on our streets."

Jaune scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry, I don't think I have anything really valuable on me," he said with a smile.

The man glowered at Jaune.

"Yer really startin' to piss me off, kid," said the man before his smile returned, "But I guess it won' matter soon 'nough."

Jaune lifted a brow before he heard a brief, high-pitched screech. Jaune looked behind him only to see that one of the men had ran up behind him… and apparently attempted to hit him with a metal rod. The rod itself was bent at the place where it hit Jaune and its wielder looked rather shaken. Upon seeing that Jaune was looking at him, the man let out a yelp of fear taking another swing at Jaune's head. Jaune in turned reached up and grabbed the rod, easily pulling it from the man's grasp.

"You should be careful how you swing this, someone could get hurt you know," said Jaune with a bright smile.

The man looked absolutely terrified at this point, staggering backwards as fast as he could only to fall over crawling the rest of the way back to the other men who looked just as shaken.

"W-What the hell is this?!" growled the first man, "What are ye?"

Jaune looked up in thought.

"I'm pretty sure I'm human…" said Jaune looking back at the man, "I'm just a bit stronger."

The man growled in fury before pulling out what looked like a revolver.

"I'll blow yer fuckin' brain's out ye smart mouth brat!"

"I don't think you'll be doing anything of the sort," stated Ruby.

Jaune was a bit surprised to see Ruby standing behind the man, but got over it quickly when he remembered her "rescuing" him from jumping off her roof. The man on the other hand was absolutely terrified and what added to it was the fact that his revolver suddenly fell to pieces looking as if it were sliced apart. Jaune's eyes widened a bit at this display.

 _Okay, wasn't expecting that._

The man dropped what was left of the revolver as he spun around to face Ruby, backing up, as her silver eyes seemed to _glow_ as they made contact with his. She looked absolutely terrifying… or at least would have if Jaune wasn't so entranced by how vibrant her eyes looked.

 _What the- stop! Bad thoughts!_

Jaune shook his head as he refocused on the scene before him Ruby having taken a few more steps forward with the leader of the group of thugs backing away.

"If you want to keep your limbs I'd suggest you and your buddies get out of my sight," stated the girl.

The man didn't need to be told twice immediately scrambling away in random direction, staying clear of Jaune as well, his buddies way ahead of him.

"It was nice meeting you!" Jaune called after them before turning back to Ruby.

Ruby looked at Jaune with a lifted brow sending a silent and obvious message that Jaune picked up on right away scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"My mom always told me that I should be polite to strangers."

Ruby continued to stare at Jaune before she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You really are an interesting guy, Jaune Arc."

Jaune cocked his head at Ruby upon her calling him "interesting" once again. He really didn't know what she meant by it…

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Ruby looked back up at Jaune with a questioning look on her face. Jaune simply gave her a hopeful smile.

"What do you mean when you call me 'interesting?'"

Ruby seemed to get lost in thought for a moment, likely mulling over Jaune's question, as innocent as it was. It was then that Jaune saw another of Ruby's rare, genuine smiles before she spun on her heels and started walking away.

"Wouldn't you like to know," said Ruby playfully.

Jaune blinked as he watched Ruby walk away. He didn't know why, but the tone that Ruby had when she said that sentence had him feeling giddy inside. It was a good feeling one that stuck with him as ran to catch up to Ruby.

This girl was definitely something else and most times it was hard to understand her, but honestly something about that mysterious air drew Jaune closer. He wanted to know who she was and why she acted the way she did. This would only happen if he took every moment he had with her.

 _Maybe I should ask Simon if I can get a job here…_

* * *

 **BANG! SQUELCH!**

The sound of a bullet smashing through a skull rang out in the darkened alleyway. In the alleyway several men stared in shock as their comrade fell lifelessly to the floor, half his head missing. The culprit with the gun clicked his tongue as he lifted his revolver.

"As I said before gentlemen, I'm on a pretty tight schedule, so if you would just spit out the information I want, so I can go about my day that would be lovely."

One of the other men let out a growl despite his fear.

"We ain' tellin' ye nothin'!"

The man with the revolver sighed.

"I just took down your 'best shot' who didn't even have his gun and you're still gonna try to be snarky with me?"

"We just faced the silver-eyed devil 'imself and came out alive, we ain' scared are we fellas?"

The other men slowly started to nod amongst themselves, confidence suddenly growing. The man with the revolver blinked at this.

"Silver-eyed…"

Before his thoughts could continue, the group charged at him with their bats and metal rods barred, ready to bash his head in. The man sighed before he sprung into action and several well-placed shots later the attackers were all on the floor, headless. With that being done, he took a cigarette out of his pocket and placed it in his mouth. He was about to reach for his lighter when suddenly it was in front of him, lighting his cigarette… in a hand that wasn't his own. The man simply chuckled at this as he allowed the cigarette to do its work before blowing a stream of smoke.

"What's with you and constantly taking my lighters, Neo?"

A petite woman with multi-colored hair of pink, brown and white looked up at him with white and brown eyes, a cheeky smirk on her race. The man simply chuckled again.

"Right, right, because you're bored, did you at least secure out prisoner?"

Neo let out a pout before motioning her head behind her. The man looked and saw the last survivor up the group wrapped up in rope with a gag on his mouth as he continued to struggle. The man smirked before he put a hand to his ear.

"This is Deadeye, we haven't gotten the information yet, but I did find something interesting."

 _"Received Deadeye, what do you have?"_ answered a monotone voice.

"It seems that our little informants have had a run-in with Torch's little silver-eyed friend," stated Deadeye, "She might be a bit more of a nuisance than we were led to believe."

There was a pause before the voice at the other end spoke up.

 _"Understood Deadeye, continue with your mission, I will take this information to Her."_

"Roger that, Deadeye out," said 'Deadeye' before he kneeled down so that he could get a closer look at the prisoner.

The said man stopped his struggle looking up at 'Deadeye' with a look of fear.

"So here's how things are gonna play out, you're gonna give us what we want or my pretty little partner is going to have some 'fun' with you."

Neo's face twisted into a maniacal grin as she pulled out a wicked looking knife from her belt, licking the side of it as her eyes flashed in excitement.


	8. Chapter 7: Newfound Hope

**Chapter 7: Newfound Hope**

Ruby slowly opened her eyes the quiet of the early morning greeting her as it usually did. She sat up and stretched her limbs before she stared out of the window, taking in the details of her surroundings. Her mind took its time transitioning away from its R.E.M. cycle as thoughts of past events began flooding in. Most of her life had mornings like this, starting off the same way, moving along the same way, and ending the same way. While she never really thought of it at the time, in hindsight it was… actually pretty sad, but she also knew it was self inflicted, an accumulation of self-loathing and isolation caused by both her and those around her. It seemed days like those would go on forever.

Then came Jaune Arc.

It was then that the days started going… differently, for lack of a better word. After the first day they met, Ruby found her entire schedule suddenly thrown off its hinges and shattered onto the floor. Her mind reeling by the sheer thought of someone acting completely different than she expected. His genuine smile, his honest words, and his overall welcoming aura had caught her completely by surprise and it honestly scared Ruby, so much so that she resolved to hide away from the blonde boy until this phase ended… or at least she tried to. Fate had other plans as it brought the boy right to her front door. Literally.

When Ruby saw Jaune standing in front of her once again so soon during a time when her entire being was in complete flux, she found herself in an interesting paradox. On one hand she was feeling completely terrified that she was no longer in control of the situation and on the other she was feeling… happy, that she was able to see him again. The former feeling ended up winning initially, but soon enough Ruby's curiosity won out and Ruby began getting to know the mysterious blonde boy.

She learned that Jaune Arc was a humble woodcutter who lived in a rather far off village in the middle of dense northern forests of Vale ironically named "Sol Harbor". There he lived with his family and his seven sister, along with his obnoxiously loud uncle, Torvald, spending his days chopping down wood in order to fulfill certain contracts made by both Atlesian and Valean clients. Each of his seven siblings had lively personalities of their own that constantly clashed with one another, causing his household to be lively as ever with the youngest of the siblings being the most energetic to the point where they were infamous among the village. His father, Ralof Arc was best described as the humble leader of the village and Jaune's role model. From Jaune's description, Ralof was one of those "good men" that Ruby's mother always talked about; a man who was willing to put his own well being in order to look out for the many and a man who was loved by all. Jaune's mother, Laura Arc, was a veteran hunter and a real firebrand always taking problems head-on, a woman who let's her actions speak for her. According to Jaune, Laura was known to end Grimm threats without even drawing her weapon due to her sheer presence. While Ruby found it hard to believe, she thought of her own ability to walk in close proximity to an alarming number of Netherhawks without fearing an attack and decided to withhold her judgment. This was all information that Ruby heard straight from Jaune's mouth, also telling Ruby of Jaune's tendency to be a fountain of words whenever he was nervous, his other nervous habit being a physical tendency of scratching the back of his head. There was also Jaune's monstrous strength with a vertical leap that can easily clear a two story building and the ability to take a heavy steel rod to the back of the head and barely even feel it.

Yet of all this information that she learned just by being near Jaune, the most intriguing part of Jaune Arc was what she discovered after a small slip up of her own. During a small trip through memory lane, Ruby allowed her own insecurities surface for a split second, barely even a blink of emotion before she managed to reel herself in and block herself out. This, however seemed to be enough for the seemingly dense and happy-go-lucky Jaune that she had come to know. Before this, she found him pleasant company, but approached him cautiously due to the fact that she found herself unbelieving in the boy's apparent innocence. Ruby's paranoia ended being partially justified due to the fact that Jaune was indeed hiding his true personality behind a mask of innocence, but what Ruby found behind the mask was the last thing she expected to see.

Instead of something that justified her fears, Ruby found a kindred spirit of sorts. It was as if Jaune knew exactly what she had gone through… without her speaking a word. This was of course impossible, but Ruby couldn't help but feel intrigued by Jaune after that moment, a boy who seemed to have the patience of a thousand monks, as he was willing to deal with Ruby's silence, more than willing to fill it in with his own words. Ruby had called him "interesting" mostly because she didn't know how she else he could describe him. No other words fit when describing the enigma that was Jaune Arc. This changed fairly recently, however, when Jaune asked Ruby a question that caused many different emotions to swell up within her.

 _"You think we could do this again?"_

It was an innocent enough question, one asked with a very hopeful smile, making it difficult to say no. Not that Ruby wanted to state negative regardless. Contrary to her way of thinking, Ruby actually enjoyed her time with Jaune… and wanted to know more about him. And likewise, he wanted to know more about her, she could see it in his eyes, even though he hid it pretty well. Thus when she gave her answer it was like she was staring directly at a star with how bright the boy's smile became. It apparently proved infectious as the boy proceeded to compliment Ruby smile causing her to promptly heat up in embarrassment and turn away so that Jaune couldn't see her reddening face. The dense boy had no idea what kind of effect he was having on Ruby.

Ruby found herself smiling just thinking about this… and felt the flush in her cheeks upon remembering the embarrassment. Still, she felt much lighter from just the thought of being able to see Jaune again; for it meant that she had gained something she never thought she would throughout her monotone life:

A friend.

While Ruby didn't truly know what a friend was, she knew the basics and Jaune fit that criteria. Where the two would go from there was all up to fate to decide, but Ruby felt optimistic about the future for the first time in her life. She found herself daring to hope for a future that was better than what she had previously envisioned.

Ruby couldn't help but release a small giggle at her own rather childish thoughts feeling lighter than she had ever been before. It was then that she allowed herself to become aware of the world around her and notice Zwei sitting there looking at her with a rather perplexed look on his furry face. Ruby didn't blame him, as he was likely used to the small smiles that she had reserved only for him. Today would likely be the same, for it was too soon to lower her guard too much, but she supposed she could lower her walls just a bit in light of this new hope she found.

"Good morning, Zwei, sleep well?" asked Ruby her smile still on her face.

Any shock on the dog's face was gone in an instant, replaced by the unconditional love the furry canine had for its master as Zwei's little tail wagged happily before he hopped up to the couch next to Ruby and started licking her face with vigor. Ruby couldn't help but giggle at Zwei's antics, his tongue ticking her skin.

"Zwei stop it you're getting your spit all over my face," said Ruby half-heartedly trying to hold Zwei back.

All the while Ruby's smile still held strong. Today was a day shined brighter than any other and she had her new friend to thank for that.

* * *

Jaune let out a sneeze, one that was so great it jolted him awake before he groaned into his pillow. He didn't even need to look outside to know that it was much too early for him to be awake at the moment. The warmth of the sun was absent after all. Thus Jaune attempted to go back to sleep; keyword being "attempted", as thoughts of the previous day slowly caused his awakening mind to come to full focus. Memories ran through his head before one realization crossed his mind.

 _I made a friend yesterday._

A true friend. Not a "friend" like Johan, not a "friend" like his seven sisters were to him. Both of them held the title of friend, but they weren't truly friends. One held it out of spite and the other due to familial ties; they didn't truly constitute the friendship that Jaune had heard about and saw within others in the community he lived in. Sure this friendship was still in the early stages of its existence and one that would likely take a long time to actually bear fruit, but Jaune felt good about the future it held. While Jaune didn't really know what exactly friendship constituted of, he knew enough to surmise that normally Ruby's tendency to stay quiet through most conversations would be a bit disconcerting. Of course this was far from a normal friendship and Jaune didn't care in the slightest what the norm at this point.

Jaune knew next to nothing about Ruby, but that's what made it so much more exciting. He wanted to know more about the mysterious girl with the red-scarf and the alluring silver eyes that had captured his attention. She was a girl who could be in one place and before you could blink move to another, one who could inexplicably slice a hand-gun into pieces, presumably with her own bear hands, and someone who preferred silence, but this was all Jaune knew about her. He wanted to know more and to do that he needed to be able to see her again. Thus when he asked her if he could see her again, he held all of his hope within his smile so much to the point where it may very well have been crippling for him if she had said no. When she answered affirmative, however, he couldn't help but be the happiest man on Remnant for it seemed to solidify the fact that he, Jaune Arc, had just made his first friend.

With this happiness grew a newfound determination, one that was stronger than any he held before this. Before this, Jaune may have held his happy façade, but he was unmotivated, basically an ever-smiling machine ready to live out the rest of his days in a living lie… Now? Now Jaune found himself with a purpose. One that he was determined to carry out. It was with this newfound determination that caused him to march straight up to Simon and asking for a job there.

Jaune still remembered the looks of shock from both Simon and Torvald at Jaune's declaration likely not expecting Jaune to be so forward with something like this. Looking back it was rather entertaining to think about it, but at the time, Jaune couldn't care less, his goal was the only thing on his mind. He would see Ruby again, even if he had to live on the streets. Thankfully it didn't need to come to that as Simon, while a bit reluctant, told Jaune that he would give Jaune a one-day trial run to see if Jaune would be qualified for the work he'd be giving. A trial run that just so happened to be today. Thus, there was no time for sleeping, this was the time for action, and to prove that he could do anything he set his mind to.

 _It's been a while since I've thought like this._

A wide, determined smile fell firmly onto Jaune's face as he sat up, all signs of early morning fatigue gone, his limbs suddenly full of energy. He was ready to tackle this day by storm and metaphorically knock Simon's inhibition flat on its back. He felt more unstoppable and invincible… even though he technically was actually physically unstoppable… and invincible.

 _I kind of feel stupid now…_

Despite this, Jaune just let out an amused chuckle. Nothing could ruin his good mood and his optimism for the future, one that he was willing to start building with his own actions. With that thought he looked over at his faithful axe, Valido, his loyal companion for most of his life, but now it wasn't the only one.

"You ready to get to work buddy?" Jaune asked.

The axe predictably didn't answer, but Jaune didn't find it in himself to care, he was just too happy, too determined, too confident. It was with this that Jaune stood up and made his way towards the bathroom of the motel preparing himself for the new day and hopefully his new future.

* * *

"C'mooooon, you've gotta come!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

Ian Reinhardt placed a hand on his face as he lay in his bed. While he had expected some hardships to take place during his path to become a professional huntsman, he never expected one of those hardships to be living with an, admittedly pretty, but annoying blonde girl of a partner and teammate.

"Yang… for the last time I don't feel like heading out to town right now," growled Ian.

This exchange had been going on since Ian had woken up earlier in the morning, the excitable blonde stating that she wanted to go out to town to "see the sights" as it were. The said blonde had already done the same tactic of convincing to his other two teammates… whom also happened to be girls.

 _Honestly what the hell was Ozpin thinking putting me in the same room with a bunch of girls? Even worse, making me team leader?_

"Don't be such a sour puss," said Yang, "It's the weekend and we already have one in the team, we don't need two."

That comment was met with a rather heavy textbook smacking the blonde in the back of the head causing the girl to stagger a bit. Ian smirked and looked over one of the beds at the other side of the room where a girl with jet-black hair, gothic style clothing, and bright yellow eyes glared at the girl. Blake Belladonna, resident book-worm and sole faunus of the team and the teammate that Ian found the most tolerable as she seemed to understand the meaning of "personal space". It probably helped that she was a former assassin for the White Fang, but that was a story for another time. Ian didn't care about the pasts of his teammates, so long as they didn't get in the way of his own goals.

Meanwhile Yang had recovered shaking her head and rubbing the sore spot on her head.

"It was meant as a joke, sheesh Blake," pouted Yang.

"It was the least you deserve for making us all suffer through your incessant begging," stated a voice from the dorm's attached bathroom.

Ian looked over in time to see his final teammate walk out fully dressed tying her hair up in a side-ponytail. The girl had pale skin, snowy white hair, and crystal blue eyes that reminded Ian of the fabled snow women in the fictional books he read when he was younger. Weiss Schnee, the most academically smart of all the Beacon freshmen with an almost terrifying amount of focus when doing assignments. She was like a walking rulebook; always ready to remind her fellow trainees of anything they were doing wrong in her snarky sort of way. At first she and Ian didn't really see eye-to-eye at first due to his more passive way of leading in opposed to her more direct approach. Couple that with the fact that she wanted the role as team leader and what you had was a very volatile relationship between to teammates. However, as weeks went on, Ian found there was more that the two had in common than previously shown. In light of this the two were able to talk it out and create a… compromise of sorts, one that put their bitterness towards one another in a cease fire.

Still… tensions between Blake and Weiss were also still palpable due to their opposing pasts. While Blake had quit the White Fang, she still held that burden over her head, and Weiss… well with the recent events going on between Mistral and Atlas let's just say Weiss had been going through some tough times, especially with students who hailed from Mistral. It was too bad really that Ian cared little about the troubles of his teammates, he figured it to be none of his business and as long as it didn't get in the way of his goals, he had no reason to interfere.

"I'm still not done asking," stated Yang.

And then there was Yang Xiao Long. The girl didn't seem to have any of the weight of inhibitions that the rest of the team had, the complete oddball of the bunch. She held an energy that glowed like bright gas ball in the sky with a spirit that never faltered no matter what type of insult was thrown at her. Whenever she was thrown an insult from one of her teammates, she simply shook it off with a cheeky grin and a comment like "I've heard worse!" or "That all you got?" It was due to this thick skin and bright attitude that this girl single-handedly held this team together. Yang was the one who went out of her way to make Blake feel welcome to the team despite her rather colorful past. It was Yang who confided with Weiss and allowed herself to be a verbal punching bag that Weiss could vent on. It was Yang who mediated the differences between Blake and Weiss. While she didn't solve the problems, she certainly steered the ship away from completely capsizing.

 _Again, why was I made the leader?_

Still, for better or worse the fact that Yang wasn't given the title of leader meant that she couldn't force him to do things that he didn't necessarily want to do… in the theory. It was then that the blonde girl leaned over Ian so that her face was hovering over his.

"You really think I'm going to go away if you just ignore me?" asked Yang with a grin.

Ian rolled his eyes.

"No, I just don't really give a damn at this point."

Yang sighed before she straightened up, her smile becoming… oddly wistful. This action caught Ian's attention as well as the rest of the team, a wistful Yang was a rare sight to behold. It only happened once before… when Yang spoke of her sister.

"You know… there are times when you remind me of my sister," she said in a subdued tone, "She's always locking herself away in her room with her inventions, refusing to see the world."

Yang closed her eyes for a moment, effectively hiding any of the emotions that may have been passing through them at that moment.

"I could never really convince her otherwise because she genuinely had no interests nor weaknesses…" she said, "But that's what makes her different from you."

Ian blinked as Yang's smile came back with a rather… ominous aura surrounding it.

"You made me do this my dear team leader," said Yang pulling something out of her back pocket.

When Ian spotted the object he immediately felt fear and anger wash through him.

"Where did you get that?" he growled.

"Oh… I have my ways," said Yang coyly.

"Give that back."

"Ah, ah, ah, not until I can be assured that you will come along," she said with a grin.  
Ian glowered the girl all while his eyes flicked towards his precious hard drive, full of old music from bands that no longer existed. Many people called them "dumb war chants" but Ian saw them for what they were: pure art. Thus upon seeing Yang with his only copy was quite alarming.

"So how about we cut a deal," she said, "You come with us to town, and you get to have your… weird war chants back."

Ian glared at Yang before he got up with a huff.

"Fine."

With that he stomped out the room slamming the door behind him to express his discontent.

"Oh!" exclaimed a surprised voice.

Ian looked up to see that the doorway across hall was half opened with someone looking like they were making their way in. They were the _last_ person Ian wanted to see right now. With that thought Ian ignored them and stormed off towards the training room, wanting to vent his anger.

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos blinked as she watched Ian go.

"Why does he always walk away from you like that?"

Pyrrha looked down at her team leader who was currently standing at the doorway and staring up with large, curious blue eyes. Pyrrha couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face in sight of this as it was like she was talking to a child that was half her age. Pyrrha also had to fight the impulse to put her hand on the other girl's head although with every passing day it was getting harder.

"It's a long, complicated story," said Pyrrha dismissively.

June pouted at Pyrrha causing her image as a child to become even more pronounced.

"Guh! You sound like my older sister, Mary!" whined June, "She always dismissed me whenever I asked a question with a short phrase and a smile!"

Pyrrha let out a sheepish smile.

"I'm… sorry?"

June let out a sigh.

"No, it's alright, everyone's entitled to secrecy," she said before pouting, "Doesn't mean it makes me any less curious about it."

Pyrrha let out a giggle at her team leader's antics. June Arc was an interesting addition to her life in Beacon with her rather childish disposition. It was welcoming as June allowed her life in Beacon to be much more bearable that it ever could have been.

Pyrrha couldn't help the melancholy that washed over her.

 _And with the ongoing events thing may very well be getting worse._

"Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha shook away her melancholy and immediately planted a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, were you saying something?"

June stared at Pyrrha with those same blue eyes, only this time they were scrutinizing her with an intensity that made Pyrrha shrink a bit. After a while June just sighed.

"You know Pyrrha, there are times when I look at you, I see my brother instead," she said with an almost bitter tone.

June turned and walked away from the doorway into the bathroom causing Pyrrha to feel a bit guilty. June turned from bright and curious to faded and moody whenever the subject of her older brother was brought up. Pyrrha never got a name due the fact that June never really liked talking about him, leading Pyrrha to assume that the said brother was either dead or simply in bad terms with her… at first.

Luckily for Pyrrha, due to her apparent similarities to this mysterious brother, June started talking to her much more, almost clinging to Pyrrha. It was from this clinginess that Pyrrha surmised that June actually loved her brother very much, but was… frustrated with him. Pyrrha didn't really mind due the fact that June, unlike most of her fellow students, was completely ignorant of her title as "Four Time Mistral Champion" and thus didn't shower Pyrrha with praise that she never wanted. It _did_ make her much more curious about the subject, but she didn't pry due to the fact that she had no right to do so with her own secrets hanging over her head like a pendulum blade.

"Don't worry Pyrrha, she'll come back around like she always does."

Pyrrha smiled at her fellow teammate and sole male of the team, Lei Ren. Ren apparently hailed from a more rural part of Mistral alongside his partner and long time friend, Nora Valkyrie. Unlike most of the other Mistral-born students, he and Nora opted to stay out of the politics, never really showing much care for them. They had also apparently heard of Pyrrha's past exploits and just didn't care.

Ren was the calm one of the two, his favorite pass time consisting of meditation and sleeping. He preferred to stay quite for most conversations, only pitching in to speak words of great wisdom or to tone down an outrageous comment made by his fun-loving friend. His seemingly unending amount of patience was something Pyrrha couldn't help but admire. It also made him the mother hen of the group, as ironic as that sounded. He was there to give June advice whenever she was feeling unsure of herself as the leader of the team, he was there to keep Nora from doing something she shouldn't be doing, and he was also there to reassure Pyrrha whenever she felt like she was doing something wrong.

"Renny! I want pancakes!" shouted a loud voice effectively throwing Pyrrha from her thoughts.

The source of the shout came from none other than Nora Valkyrie herself who was currently bouncing on the bed that Ren was sitting on causing the hapless boy to be jostled as the mattress' coils creaked under the girl's relentless punishment.

"Morning Pyrrha!" said Nora with a wide grin suddenly noticing Pyrrha in the room.

Pyrrha smiled.

"Good morning Nor-."

"So Ren, when can we have pancakes?" asked Nora changing her attentions as fast as lightening.

Pyrrha closed her mouth as she watched the girl's antics with amusement, Ren giving a look of apology for his friend's antics.

Nora was an enigma of an entirely different class from the rest. At first Pyrrha figured her to be of a similar personality type to June, but as her time with the Valkyrie girl increased, her view of Nora slowly changed. Nora was on a completely different level. Where June held the adorable innocence of a young child, Nora held the wild inclinations of a maniac. Her presence, her way of speaking, and even her imagination were all on a different tier to the normal human being.

Pyrrha had found Nora a bit disconcerting when they had first met, but after getting to know the girl, she found Nora a wonderful source of entertainment as the girl's antics always had a way of brightening Pyrrha's day through both accidental mishaps and wild stories.

Pyrrha couldn't ask for a better team to spend four years with during her time in Beacon.

"Sorry about that guys," said June walking out of the bathroom with a sheepish smile on her face, "Don't know why I fell apart there."

Pyrrha shook her head.

"It's alright June," said Pyrrha.

Before anybody else could say anything, Nora was up and in June's face faster than one could blink. Nora held June's hands and started jumping up and down.

"Can we go to the pancake house in Vale? Can we fearless leader? Can we? Can we? Can we?"

June, completely overwhelmed by Nora's sudden attention to her looked towards Pyrrha and Ren for help. Pyrrha simply held a nervous smile, while she felt bad for June, she had no wish to tell the unpredictable Valkyrie off in fear that her attentions would zero on her. It was, as always, Ren who spoke up.

"Nora… stop trying to pressure our leader into doing things," said Ren calmly, but sternly.

Nora let out a pout.

"But Reeeen, I want pancakes!"

"Um… I actually was kind of wanted to try the pancake house as well…" stated June timidly poking her fingers together, "I haven't had any since I got here."

It was then that the poor girl found herself in the death grip that was known as Nora's hug.

"Yaaaay! You're the best team leader ever!"

"Nora," said Ren, "You're crushing our 'best leader ever'."

Upon hearing this Nora dropped June allowing the girl to breath all while laughing sheepishly.

"Eheh, sorry!"

Pyrrha shook her head in amusement before she looked out the window.

 _I wonder surprises are in store today?_

Pyrrha couldn't help the feeling of anticipation for the events to come.


	9. Chapter 8: Preparing for Something Big

**Chapter 8: Preparing for Something Big**

To say that Jaune was feeling slightly overwhelmed was the understatement of the century. When Jaune asked to work at Simon's Woodshop he knew that the job was going to be different and therefore a bit difficult at the beginning…

"I needed those logs prepared five minutes ago, Boy Wonder! Hustle it up!" called Simon's voice.

Jaune found it incredible that the usually soft-spoken man could make himself heard through all the chaos that was happening around him. The said chaos being the constant sounds of metal slicing into wood as quite literally every machine in the woodshop was occupied with various tasks. Coupling that with the large amounts yelling and the constant staccato of footsteps as people ran to and fro completed the overall picture Jaune was witnessing.

"I would like those sixteens today people!" shouted Simon and although it wasn't directed at Jaune this time, it still spurred him to work faster than he already was.

Today just so happened to be one the busiest times of the year as preparations were supposed to be made for an annual festival that the city partook in. Almost every woodshop in the city was tasked with providing the wood needed for various projects such as bleachers, stalls, archways and many other structures that were apparently needed for the event. It was certainly a far cry from the usual, laid back nature of woodcutting out in the wilderness.

"Boy Wonder! Where the hell are my logs?!"

Jaune quickly got himself back in gear as he continued doing his job; the said job being to cut every log into manageable pieces so that the other workers could refine them into whatever shape they needed. It was the only thing that Jaune could really do mostly due to the fact that he had no idea how to operate the machinery meant to make the precise cuts. Simon had tried to teach Jaune the machinations, but quickly decided it was a bad idea when Jaune almost broke a table saw in half. Jaune couldn't help the sigh at the memory.

 _Not the best thing to do on the first day._

Still, Jaune couldn't help but feel excited as he hacked way at the logs before him into crude wooden slabs before placing them in a semi-neat stack a little ways away from him. It was a long time since Jaune felt like he was working towards something after spending quite a bit of his time going through the motions. He had a purpose, a goal to fulfill and that thought alone brought a smile to his lips as he worked even going as far as humming a tune as he continued.

"Jaune my boy, another shipment of logs have arrived!" shouted Torvald's booming voice.

"I'll be there in a sec!" answered Jaune as he finished up with the slab he was working on before carrying it over towards the shrinking pile by the sawmill.

Jaune then buried Valido's blade into the next log he'd work on before jogging over towards his uncle who was already in the process of carrying a log over by himself. Jaune had to hold back a chuckle as several of the workers gawked at the feat.

"The hell are you idiots staring at? Get back to work!" roared Simon.

This caused the men to immediately hop back into gear not wanting to be on the receiving end of Simon's wrath. Jaune simply smirked at this, exchanging a grin with his uncle as they passed one another. This was a pattern that had been happening ever since the day began due to the almost inhuman strength that both Jaune and Torvald displayed as they worked. Jaune still remembered how almost every worker stopped short to stare at Jaune as he carried two of the logs into the woodshop in order to be refined. It took Simon screaming at the top of his lungs to break them out of their stupor, a sight that was fairly entertaining to watch.

Jaune couldn't help the chuckle that broke through as he hefted a log onto on shoulder and jogging to put it back on the pile passing by his uncle as he went. As he did he noticed how winded Torvald looked despite the older man's best efforts to hide it. Jaune couldn't help himself.

"C'mon Uncle Tor! Where's that stamina you always boasted about?" teased Jaune.

Torvald seemed to pause for a moment before a wide grin entered his features.

"I'm just getting started my boy! Don't think you're leaving me in the dust, yet!"

Jaune simply let out a laugh as he tossed his cargo onto the log pile. He couldn't help this new and admittedly out of place attitude. For the first time in years he felt _alive_ and it was because of this that Jaune's happiness had reached an all time high. Yes, Jaune was feeling slightly overwhelmed by the extreme change of pace, but he also found that he didn't mind.

 _All of this because I met Ruby._

Yes, the silver-eyed girl with the bright red scarf that he met by a sheer miracle. The girl whose quirk was to stare directly into his eyes for the longest time without so much as blinking, the girl who could describe something with one word where any other person needed a thousand, the girl of many secrets, and the girl who became Jaune's first real friend. Jaune couldn't help the happy smile that he was sure was plastered on his face.

"You sure seem happy, kid."

Jaune turned his head to look at the speaker who happened to be the man who was delivering the wood to the woodshop. Jaune scratched the back of his head sheepishly although his smile remained.

"Yeah, I guess I am!" said Jaune enthusiastically.

This seemed to bring a smile onto the man's face as he went back to looking at a clipboard he was holding. Jaune couldn't help his curiosity.

"What's that you got there?" asked Jaune as he hefted another log onto his shoulder.

"Oh just my delivery schedule for today, I need to make two more round trips to other woodshops in the area," lamented the man with a sigh, "We're going into overdrive this year, especially since the council wants to impress those fancy foreign politicians coming here."

Jaune cocked his head at this.

"So this isn't normal?" asked Jaune motioning to the chaos of the woodshop behind him.

The truck driver let out a chuckle.

"Oh no, this is still the same hustle and bustle like every other year, it's just the amount of work that's different," said the man, "The higher-ups want more flash and that requires more wood, which means more work for us."

Jaune nodded at this before clapping the man on the shoulder.

"Well keep up the good work!" stated Jaune as he took the log he was holding back over to the pile.

"You too!" called the man.

Jaune quickly tossed the log onto the pile and was about to turn back before Torvald stopped him.

"You get back to chopping those logs my boy, that pile is growing pretty small, I'll take care of the rest!"

Jaune couldn't help but send his uncle a knowing smile.

"C'mon uncle you had to know I was kidding about that last statement."

Torvald let out a hardy laugh.

"Kidding or not you've attacked my pride, and I'm not one to back down from a challenge!"

Jaune simply grinned as he made his way over to Valido, which sat where he left it, waiting dutifully for its wielder. Jaune quickly set to work on the next set of slabs.

"Heard you might need some help."

Jaune felt his smile grow even wider at the sound of the familiar voice. He looked over towards the silver eyes of the speaker as he rested Valido on one shoulder.

"Heh, I never thought my first day on the job would be so hectic!" exclaimed Jaune.

Ruby rolled her eyes at the comment.

"And whose fault is that?" she asked.

Jaune let out a chuckle at that.

"Well, I didn't know that this city even held a festival of this scale, but I guess you learn new things everyday."

A small smile made its way to the raven-heads face; it was an expression Jaune hoped to see more of in the future. They were few and far between, but that's what made them so special. Meanwhile Ruby looked towards the machine that sat near the woodpile Jaune was working on. The said machine was meant to do what Jaune was helping to do with axe, but thanks to Jaune it was simply helping make his pieces look a bit neater. There were two men currently manning the machine… and judging by the annoyed frown that appeared on Ruby's face, they were going about it wrong. Suddenly there was a loud snap followed by a couple of startled shouts.

"What the hell you idiot!"

" _You_ were the one pushing too hard!"

"Well it looks like I found what I need to do," said Ruby, casting Jaune a quick glance before striding toward the arguing workers.

Jaune couldn't help but laugh nervously in response as she spooked the two with her presence. Jaune couldn't help but watch her for a while, marveling at the girl's commanding presence and how it affected the people around her. Where others found it terrifying, he found it… alluring.

"Now's not the time to be daydreaming my boy!" shouted Torvald, his voice dripping in amusement.

Jaune shook his head and grinned over towards his uncle.

"I was just giving you time to catch up!" he stated with a smirk receiving a hardy laugh in turn.

Jaune then brought Valido down onto the log before him determined to get the job done right.

* * *

Ruby glanced back towards Jaune, marveling at how the blonde boy easily sliced through the thick logs as if they were made of butter. Even though she had witnessed such inhuman feats before, she still couldn't help but stare.

 _"That means we're both incredible!"_

Ruby felt heat rise to her face as she remembered the words he said to her on the rooftop of her house.

"Um…"

Ruby was thrown out of her thoughts she remembered the other reason why she was here. She turned her head to look back at the machinery beside her, apparently a little sharply if the slight gasps of fright from the men next to her were anything to go by. Ruby bit back a sigh.

 _Really… these guys must be about ten years older than me, where's their pride?_

Ruby simply pushed the thought aside and inspected the broken piece of machinery before her. Kneeling down, she opened up a small compartment near the blade to inspect the damage and grimaced atwhat she saw. The blade of the saw was cracked in several places and the engine that ran on a combination of red and yellow dust showing signs of overheating due to the stress it was under, the ice dust cooling unit doing nothing to relieve it.

 _I guess I've been neglecting this particular girl for too long._

Ruby sighed as she straightened up.

"What's your assessment, Ruby?"

Ruby looked over at Simon who held a look of annoyance as he stared down at the machine. Ruby didn't blame him, as this machine was pretty much the only thing refining the pile of uneven slabs that Jaune had made.

"The damage isn't too severe, it just needs time to cool down and the blade needs to be replaced," said Ruby.

"How long will it take to repair?" asked Simon.

"Well replacing the blade is an easy affair, it's waiting for the thing to cool that's the issue, and from what I'm seeing it'll be another two hours before it is ready to function again.

Simon cursed under his breath while the men who caused this disaster lowered their heads in shame. Ruby looked at them before sighing and moving over to the counter nearby, taking off her scarf as she did so.

"Can you two take that slab off the machine?" she called as she folded her scarf and placed it neatly onto the countertop before removing her jacket.

She could feel the looks of confusion and curiosity on her back as she did so.

"Some time today would be nice?" called Ruby.

The desired effect was immediate as the sound of scrambling feet was heard behind her causing her to smirk as she placed her jacket on the counter before reaching into her back pocket and taking out a hair tie and placing her long hair into a ponytail. Ruby then turned around to face the two men who were standing with wooden slab looking unsure of themselves while Simon stood a little ways away with a curious frown on his face.

"Ruby, what are you-," started Simon.

Ruby looked on in amusement at his startled expression, as she stood right in front of him, her back to the slab she was facing from the other side of the room only moments ago. Ruby looked back at the two men holding the slab who stared at it in awe as a perfectly cut slab of wood replaced the uneven piece from before.

"I'll be the replacement in the meantime, we don't have time to lose after all," explained Ruby calmly.

This seemed to jolt the men back to the world of the living. Simon's face switched back to an impatient frown.

"Oy! Don't just stand there like dumbasses! Get that wood on the cart and get the next slab ready!"

The startled men quickly did as they were told and Ruby took the chance to steal a glance at Jaune. Contrary to the other men in the room, Jaune simply looked on with awe and excitement. Upon noticing her looking at him he sent her a grin before continuing with his work.

"You doing alright Ruby?"

Ruby turned to look at Simon who looked rather disconcerted. Again, Ruby couldn't blame him; after all she usually made it a personal rule in the past to avoid the woodshop at times like this due to the amount of people that were around at this time. The rare times when she did visit was to fix a saw that someone broke, which she would do with utmost haste before leaving again without a word to anybody. Today, however, was different and the reason had blonde hair with ocean blue eyes… not that she would allow herself to admit this openly.

"I'm fine Simon, I just figured I should help this time around, especially since the work load seems to be a lot more than usual this year," said Ruby.

Simon looked into Ruby's eyes for a moment, searching for something. After a while it seemed he found it as he let out a sigh through his nose as he played with his collar again.

"Well your help is appreciated, maybe your presence will get the rest of these idiots in line," he grumbled before making his way back into the woodshop.

It was seconds later that his voice was heard raging at another 'idiot'. Ruby shook her head in amusement before looking over at the to workers who stood with another slab ready, still looking a bit lost. Ruby made short work of the wood, shaping it to be practically identical to the piece before.

"Holy shit," whispered one of the men in astonishment.

"Get that wood on the cart, the pile isn't getting smaller," stated Ruby hiking a thumb towards the uneven slabs behind her.

As if to prove her point, Jaune tossed a few more slabs onto the pile. The men immediately scrambled to keep up all while grumbling to themselves. Ruby could have sworn she heard 'kids these days' through the incoherent muttering. Ruby looked down at her hands in the meantime. She hadn't failed to notice that she was using her powers much more frequently than ever before and for some reason it didn't bother her so much.

 _I wonder why._

Ruby stole another glance at Jaune as he hacked away at another log humming happily as he did. Ruby allowed another smile to grace her face.

 _I can think of the logistics later, right now I have wood to refine._

That said Ruby turned back to find another slab waiting for her.

 _Huh… they're getting better at this already._

* * *

Ian was not having a good day, his discontent not at all hidden on his features as he glowered at the floor. Thanks to Yang's blackmail he was forced to tag along with the rest of his team. This of course led to the girls deciding that they wanted to go shopping for various things. It also seemed to be a universal rule that the men were stuck carrying the goods and in this case it was just one man, Ian. His arms felt like they were about to fall off with the amount of bags he held in each hand, but he dared not drop them unless he wished to face the wrath of both Yang and Weiss. He liked to avoid third degree burns and frostbite thank you very much. His only saving grace was that Blake insisted on carrying her purchases herself, which ended up being a couple of books from a small bookshop. Turok's Bookspace or whatever.

Ian sighed as he trudged along behind his teammates.

"How much longer are we going to wander this damn city?" grumbled Ian.

The infuriating blonde that put him in this position had the gall to smirk cheekily at him.

"Aw c'mon boss! A few bags of clothes shouldn't be giving you that much trouble!"

Ian felt his eyebrow twitch at the jab.

"You call _this_ ," stated Ian holding up the multitude of bags in his hands, "A few?! Where did you even get the money to buy all this damn stuff?"

"Oh I've been saving up for this occasion and Weiss-cream here is loaded," explained Yang nonchalantly before grinning, "Besides, a _big_ , _strong_ man such as yourself shouldn't have _any_ trouble with this right?"

Ian glowered at her before he heard an undignified snort and looked over to see that it was Weiss struggling to keep her mirth in check. Ian looked over towards the resident faunus of the group only to see that she wasn't even bothering to hide the smirk on her face.

 _Evil women._

Ian let out another sigh before he decided to let his eyes wander his surroundings as he walked. He idly noticed a couple of banners being put up as well as a increase of activity that was different from when he first arrived at this city.

"Oh! I forgot that it was this time of year!" stated an excited voice.

Ian was surprised to find that it was Weiss who made the statement holding a look of almost child-like glee…

 _What the hell is wrong with everyone today?_

"Someone seems to be in a chipper mood," stated Blake seemingly on the same wavelength as her team leader.

Weiss didn't seem to be at all effected by the subtle jab simply looking back at her team with a bright smile on her face.

"How can you not be excited about such a great event?!" said Weiss with unrestrained happiness, "I've heard so many stories about the Vytal Festival that happens in Vale every year and I always wanted to see it for myself!"

Ian rolled his eyes at Weiss' enthusiasm.

 _Who gives a damn about a stupid festival? I personally think it's a waste of time and resources._

Of course Ian didn't voice this aloud. Yes he was concerned with his own goals, but he wasn't heartless and it was honestly a bit refreshing to see the usually ice-cold heiress in such a happy mood… despite how creepy it was.

"Quick I want to see what type of stands they're putting up!" stated the said heiress suddenly taking off into the crowd.

"Ah Weiss wai- and she's gone," stated Yang with a sigh before turning to address the rest of the team, "Welp I guess it's high time to catch up to her."

"I say let her do what she wants, we can meet up with her eventually," stated Blake.

"Don't be like that Blake! We came here as a team and we leave here as a team, right Ian?"

Ian opened his mouth to make his opposition known only to immediately clam up when he spotted the blonde's eyes to change from lilac to crimson red for a split second. So instead he grunted noncommittally.

"See? Ian agrees!"

Blake simply rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Well we should probably hurry up or we'll never find our resident heiress."

"Agreed! Let's go team! Banzai!"

With that Yang started to tear through the crowd, striding with purpose and causing many cries of protest to sound as she pushed through. Despite this she still held a fairly impressive pace, one that Ian was barely keeping up with due to the extra baggage he held along with his fatigue.

"Better not drop any of those bags Ian!" called Yang as she continued to push through.

"You ask the impossible you damn harpy!" growled Ian only receiving a laugh in return.

Ian gritted his teeth as he simply focused on keeping track of the shock of blonde as he somehow managed to push through the crowd without dropping any of the bags. This little chase continued for what seemed like hours and the entire time Ian felt like his arms were on fire. The only thing motivating him at this point was the fact that Yang still held something precious to him.

 _This is for my music. This is for my music. This is for my music_

Ian continued his mantra as he pushed through the crowd when suddenly he ran face-first into what felt like a wall. While his aura took most of the impact, Ian still felt himself recoil backwards from the sudden stop, dazed.

"Woah! Hey you okay?"

Ian shook his head to clear before making to glare at the blonde before him… who wasn't Yang. Ian frantically looked around only to find that he fears were true: Yang was nowhere to be found. Ian let out an annoyed growl.

 _Just my damn luck._

"You need some help?"

Ian turned his attention back to the person before him. The blonde was a tall boy with an impressive build. To Ian's annoyance he found that the boy was a bit taller than him. The said boy was currently holding an annoyingly sheepish grin on his face.

"Sorry for bumping into you like that, I didn't notice you coming!"

Ian narrowed his eyes. That tone… why did it seem so familiar?

"Ah! There you are Ian!"

Ian was thrown from his musing as he took this chance to glare at the bane of his existence as she marched back through the crowd with an embarrassed looking heiress and an indifferent ex-White Fang assassin in tow. The said bane held an unashamed smirk on her face. Yang seemed to immediately notice the boy Ian was scrutinizing earlier.

"Oh? Making friends now are we?" asked Yang as she proceeded look at the boy herself, "Mmm… Yang likey~."

"Yang, don't be indecent," stated Weiss seeming to have gotten over her previous embarrassment.

"Oy, Boy Wonder where the hell are you?!"

The voice seemed to come from within the dense crowd, and although it was impressively loud, Ian still had a tough time discerning it over the other excited voices. The blonde boy before him, however seemed to hear it clearly judging by how his face paled a bit.

"Ah crap! I gotta go! Sorry again for running into you!"

With that the boy took off towards the source of the voice.

"Aw… and I was going to ask for his name too," grumbled Yang.

"Hmph! Like we needed any more of your constant flirting with anything that walks on two legs!" said Weiss haughtily.

"Har har, Weiss-cream."

"Don't call me that!"

Ian barely listened to his team's antics as he stared into the crowd where the blonde boy disappeared. Something was… familiar about him… and Ian couldn't shake the feeling that it was important. Unfortunately his fatigue from today's events was inhibiting his ability to think straight. With a frustrated growl Ian decided to put it in the back burner for now. He didn't have the patience for thinking about… _anything_ at the moment.

"Oh wow you managed to not drop the bags!" said Yang in mock-pride, "Good to know that you're a reliable pack mule!"

 _EVIL!_

* * *

"Aaah~! That hit the spot!" sang Nora as she patted her stomach contently, "Nothing beats Ren's pancakes but it comes close!"

Pyrrha giggled at her fellow redhead as she and her team walked away from the pancake house. They had just finished eating there and Pyrrha had to admit while she wasn't a connoisseur of pancakes like Nora claimed to be, she found the food there to be delightfully satisfying.

"The sweetness was there, and the texture was impressive at the beginning, but near the end the pancakes lost their fluffiness and tanked the entire experience a bit," stated Nora like professional food critic.

"That's because you put so much syrup on the pancakes that they turned soggy," stated Ren nonchalantly.

Nora spun around towards Ren and hopped on his back.

"Ah but that's why your pancakes rein supreme! No matter how much syrup assaults your pancakes they still manage to retain their perfectly fluffy texture!"

Pyrrha let loose another giggle before looking over at her leader who held a happy expression on her face, although curiosity seemed to cross the small girl's face.

"You cook pancakes Ren?" asked June.

Nora hopped off Ren's back and threw an arm around the other girl's shoulders.

"He cooks the best pancakes in the world! Possibly the planet!" bragged Nora holding her face next to June's and holding her arm out as if she was showing off her vision.

June looked out as if she saw what Nora was seeing with a look of awe.

"Nora, the world and the planet are the same thing."

"Irrelevant!"

Pyrrha couldn't help but shake her head in amusement as she continued to watch the happy face of her leader; a great improvement from the melancholy that she held earlier today. The memory caused Pyrrha's thoughts to wander back to that conversation and the subject of June's brother. Pyrrha couldn't help but be a bit curious about this mysterious brother that apparently held a lot in common with her, according to June. Did this boy also hold his own secrets? Was he also burdened an incredible weight that he didn't want?

 _I wonder what he would look like…_

Pyrrha immediately felt on her cheeks as she tried to push those thoughts away. Why was she suddenly obsessing over the looks of someone she hadn't even met? Had she no shame?!

"Pyrrha? Are you alright?"

Pyrrha was brought back to reality by the voice of her leader held a look of concern. Behind her Nora continued to smile… a smile that caused shivers to go down her smile.

"Oh... I wouldn't worry too much fearless leader~!" sang Nora in a devious tone.

"Huh? Why not?" asked June looking back at Nora with genuinely befuddled expression on her face.

"Tee-hee! Because our fair maiden is in love!" said Nora spreading her arms out with flourish as if to emphasis her point.

At this point Pyrrha felt like her head was about to explode with all the heat that was being centered there, her embarrassment reaching an all time high.

"Nora!" exclaimed Pyrrha with indignation.

June also seemed to be a bit embarrassed at the notion too judging by the reddening face of her leader.

"A-Are you really in love Pyrrha?" asked June.

Pyrrha frantically shook her head.

"It's nothing like that!"

"Ah~! I think the lady doth protest too much!" stated Nora cheekily.

 _I don't want to hear that from you!_

It was no secret that Nora and Ren were close. Closer than what normal friends were, but whenever someone tried to broach the subject, Nora would simply state that the two were "together, but not together-together" and leave it at that. If someone were to try and bring the subject up to Ren, he'd simply say, "ask Nora". Thus was the frustration of being around Nora and Ren, _especially_ when Nora decides to tease others about their love lives.

Pyrrha let out an exasperated sigh before she spun on her heels and marched down the sidewalk.

"Ah! Pyrrha wait up!" shouted June as she scrambled to keep up with the embarrassed Amazonian.

Nora simply laughed merrily before demanding Ren for a piggyback followed by a grunt from Ren likely due to the fact that the petite redhead proceeded to hop onto the poor boy's back before he could protest. Pyrrha couldn't find it in herself to care at the moment, her main focus being to calm herself from her bout of embarrassment. Really, why was she so worked up about this? The said guy that she's supposedly in love with doesn't even exist!

"Pyrrha?"

Or okay he does but Pyrrha doesn't even know what he looks like! Besides the fact that maybe he shared some features with his sister… but that's not the point!

"Pyrrha?!"

She just needed to calm down, think of something else _anything_ else!

"Look out!"

Pyrrha suddenly realized she had been walking faster without realizing, leaving her team behind without paying attention to where she was going.

 _Where…?_

It was then that Pyrrha noticed the white lines of a crosswalk drawn upon the asphalt of the road she was standing on. Pyrrha looked up and her heart sank into her stomach as a bright orange hand met her gaze. At that moment time seemed to slow as Pyrrha turned her head towards incoming doom that took form of a semi, its driver's eyes wide and frantic as he was likely jamming his foot into the breaks. Pyrrha's first thought was to use her semblance, but the truck was too close, she wouldn't be able to react in time.

In fact, to Pyrrha's dread, she was already in the middle of trying to do just that, her body reacting in slow motion to the incoming danger, but she could already tell that she wasn't going to make it. Pyrrha just hoped that her aura would be able to protect from most of the damage.

Suddenly Pyrrha felt someone take her hand before her world seemed to shift. Next thing Pyrrha knew she was back on the sidewalk.

 _Wha-?_

Before Pyrrha could figure out what happened, time went back to normal with the screech of rubber sliding across asphalt and terrified gasps. Pyrrha slowly turned her head to where she was standing just moments before.

"How did I…" she muttered.

"Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha was thrown out of her musings when felt herself getting hugged by her leader.

"Thank Oum you're all right!" cried June.

Pyrrha slowly hugged her back, her mind reeling at trying to figure what happened.

 _How am I all right? What just happened?_

Pyrrha stared down at the hand where she felt the sensation of someone grabbing it. It was also then that she remembered seeing a shock of red and silver…


	10. Chapter 9: Scars of the Past

**Chapter 9: Scars of the Past**

 _"Big Bro! Big Bro!"_

 _A young boy turned around to look at another boy half his size running towards him._

 _"What's got you in tizzy squirt?" asked the older boy with a grin._

 _"Don't call me that!" pouted the smaller boy._

 _"Haha! Sorry, sorry," said the older boy unapologetically while ruffling the younger one's hair._

 _The younger boy let out a whine of discontent as he moved away from his older brother's grasp._

 _"Anyway what's up?" asked the older brother._

 _The younger boy's excitement came back._

 _"I'm gonna go hunting with Dad today!"_

 _The older boy's grin grew at this news._

 _"That's great! You'll be able to show those Grimm what for!" said the older boy._

 _The younger boy let out a grin of his own taking a pose with a look of determination._

 _"Just you watch Big Bro! I'm gonna help Dad kill more Grimm than even you!"_

 _"Oh? Is that so?" asked the older brother, "Well you're not gonna have to work that hard, I only killed two."_

 _The younger brother's excitement didn't falter._

 _"It doesn't matter because I'm going to be the best warrior of our village, even better than_ them _!"_

 _The older brother smiled at his younger brother's enthusiasm._

 _"That's the spirit little brother!"_

 _The younger boy let out a giggle at the praise before looking at the ground._

 _"I wish you can come with us to watch…"_

 _The older boy ruffled his younger brother's hair again, only this time the smaller boy didn't attempt to move away._

 _"Sorry squirt, this is your warrior's trial, I had to go through the same thing, remember?"_

 _The younger boy pouted with his arms crossed._

 _"Still…"_

 _"Don't worry about it too much! Besides, we can share stories after you finish and you can brag to everyone about how many Grimm you killed!"_

 _This brought a smile on the young boy's face._

 _"Yeah…"_

 _"So cheer up and show the village how great you are!" stated the older boy with a blinding grin, "I'm rooting for you, Ian!"_

Childish laughter echoed throughout Ian's mind as he opened his eyes to stare at the top bunk above him. The room was still dark, telling Ian that while it may be morning, it was early in the morning, early enough that the sun hadn't truly shown its brilliance as of yet. Ian slowly sat up, ignoring his aching muscles as he made to stare at the wall ahead of him.

 _"So cheer up and show the village how great you are!"_

No smile appeared on Ian's lips; instead an irritated snarl appeared as he tried to push down the memory. He always became annoyed with himself whenever he allowed his subconscious to bring up the past. It made him feel vulnerable, and Ian _hated_ feeling vulnerable. Memories that made him feel exceptionally weak were memories of his older brother, a cruel reminder of why he was here in the first place. They only pissed him off even more.

With a small growl, Ian threw off his sheets and stormed towards the bathroom, throwing water on his face and allowing the cold water to jumpstart his brain. He then stared up at the mirror in front of him. It was for a fleeting moment, but Ian was suddenly staring at a boy that looked just like him, a bright, hopeful smile on his face as he readied himself to take the world.

 _Naïve brat._

Ian let out a snarl of disgust as he pushed himself away from the mirror and made his way back into the bedroom. He haphazardly rummaged through his clothes and picked out the first things that met his hand, which ended up being a black muscle shirt and a pair of black basketball shorts. Ian didn't blink as he swiftly changed before heading over towards the dorm's exit. He didn't spare the room behind him a second glance as he closed the door behind him before making his way towards the dorm's gym, hoping to clear his head of these annoying memories.

"Where are you going in such a hurry, Reinhardt?"

Ian glared at the speaker.

"I don't believe that is any of you concern, Winchester."

Cardin Winchester, the notorious first-year bully walked up the stairwell towards Ian, most likely headed towards the gym as well. Ian cared little for the details, but apparently Cardin was starting to turn a new leaf as of late, spending less time terrorizing other students and spending more time strengthening his body and spirit in order to become a better huntsman. As to what caused the change… Ian couldn't be bothered with the details, but rumors say that the Arc midget had something to do with it.

"No need to bite my head off Reinhardt, it was just a question," said Cardin with a grunt as he walked passed Ian towards the gym.

Ian glared at Cardin for a bit before letting out a small growl and following the larger boy towards the gym. Upon entering the gym, Ian made sure to head towards the opposite end of the massive room of the brute as the said brute predictably went for the weights. Ian walked towards the punching bags, stretching his limbs as he did, glaring at the leather bag of sand in front of him.

 _"Hi there! I don't think we met before!"_

Ian's anger flared as he immediately fell into a fighting stance before sending a jab at the bag, the sound of flesh meeting leather ringing into Ian's ears.

 _"Haha! I forgot you guys haven't met my lil bro, yet!"_

Ian let out another three quick jabs before following with a kick.

 _"I feel like I already have with how much you talk about him!"_

Ian let out another punch, a small growl emanating from his lips.

 _"Can't an older brother be proud of his younger bro?"_

Another punch was thrown, this one harder than the last.

 _"Hiya Ian! I'm-!"_

Ian let out another growl as he sent yet another jab forward.

 _"Yo Mini Reinhardt, I'm-."_

Another punch.

 _"Sup Ian! My name is-."_

And another.

 _"Howdy smallish Rein, name's-."_

Then another.

 _"I'm-."_

Two more in rapid succession.

 _"Her name is-."_

A kick.

 _"And that's everyone! Or wait we have one more."_

Ian unleashed a small combo on the poor punching bag, each strike stronger than the last.

 _"You guys are mean!"_

Ian's strikes became even harsher as he felt rage build.

 _"Anyway it's nice to meet you Ian!"_

Ian dropped any semblance of technique, simply jabbing forward.

 _"I'm the man who will stand at the top as the best huntsman in the world! And my name is-."_

Ian let out a roar as he poured all his anger into one last punch… that ended up completely demolishing the punching bag in front of him, sending sand everywhere. Ian panted as he stared at the ruptured bag in front of him, willing the memories to the back of his mind. All except for the last one. The previous names were all just reminders of what Ian had lost, they made him feel weak and that was something Ian wouldn't tolerate. The last one, however… it was Ian's main drive, the main reason why Ian became a huntsman in the first place.

"Reinhardt?"

Ian blinked, suddenly remembering he wasn't alone. He straightened up and turned towards the exit, not even acknowledging Cardin as he walked by. Right as he reached for the gym doors, however, it opened, revealing another person that Ian remember the name to as someone he needed to defeat. Pyrrha seemed startled to see Ian in front of her.

 _"Good match!"_

Ian growled at the memory.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know you were-," began the Mistral Champion.

"Whatever," interrupted Ian as he shoved passed Pyrrha and down the hall back towards his dorm.

* * *

Pyrrha stared melancholically after Ian as he stomped down the hallway back towards the dorm rooms below. She was unfortunately used to such treatment as she received it from all of the opponents that she had defeated during her time in the arena. Some swore that they'd defeat her one-day, others simply quit fighting all together declaring to never want to see her face again. Either way her fights never ended on friendly terms thus was the case with Ian, although the difference between him and all the rest was that he had come the closest to defeating her.

 _And likely hates me the most because of it._

"What's his beef?"

Pyrrha blinked and looked over towards the other occupant of the gym, Cardin who was sitting on a bench with a dumbbell in his hand. Pyrrha was still feeling rather neutral about Cardin, especially with how he treated his fellow trainees during the early days of Beacon. The notorious bully had it out for everyone, especially faunus and Pyrrha found him detestable for it.

 _But I didn't do anything about it._

Nobody did really, and thus Cardin continued on with his tyranny... nobody, but her leader, June Arc, yet another reason why Pyrrha was glad to be a part of team JNPR.

"I'm sure he is just having a rough morning," Pyrrha stated politely.

Cardin shrugged his shoulders with a grunt.

"Well hopefully he can work his shit out," stated the burly student.

Pyrrha frowned at Cardin's crude language, but held her tongue and walked over to the mats to start her warm-up. As she sat down to start her stretches she couldn't help but allow her mind to wander back to Ian and his animosity with her. She wondered idly if there was anything else she could have said to mend the gap between her and the estranged boy.

 _"There is nothing a winner can say to a loser."_

Pyrrha felt herself mentally flinch at the harsh words of her father, a fierce gladiator before he passed on his legacy to his daughter. While the words seemed cruel at first, Pyrrha found out the hard way that her words only brought more resentment from her defeated opponents no matter how sincere they were. The same could be said about Ian.

 _"Good match!"_

Pyrrha had meant those words genuinely, having never fought such a hard fight in all the years as the Mistral Champion, but to him those same words must have sounded demeaning and patronizing. Pyrrha felt a sigh escape her as the memory flowed through.

 _Perhaps it would have been best if I said nothing at all._

 _"If you do that, then you wouldn't be earnest now would you?"_

Pyrrha let a smile appear on her face. Those weren't the words of her father, but they still were words that she found much wisdom in… as well as comfort. They were words that were spoken from the person that inspired Pyrrha to become a huntress in the first place.

"Hey Nikos."

Pyrrha blinked and looked up at Cardin who was now standing up, the dumbbells back in their proper places.

"You happen to know where the cleaning tools are?" he asked.

Pyrrha blinked in confusion until Cardin motioned towards her left. When she looked she was surprised to find a ruptured punching bag with sand piled up all over the floor. It was then that Pyrrha remembered out stormy Ian's expression was as he left the gym, telling Pyrrha who the culprit of this mess was.

 _Was I so lost in thought that I didn't notice?_

"I-I believe there's a utility closet in the back corner over there," said Pyrrha pointing over towards a door behind the numerous exercise machines.

The said door looked like it was meant to blend into the background, unnoticed as it was painted over with the same color as the wall it resided on. It blended in so perfectly… almost as if it wanted to be invisible to the world… until Cardin walked up and opened it to reveal it contents. Pyrrha shook herself from her thoughts as Cardin pulled out a broom and a dustpan before walking over to the sand pile and brushing the sand onto the pan.

"What are you…" began Pyrrha in confusion.

"Someone's gotta clean up this mess," stated Cardin.

This was true, but staff was usually around for cases like these… and Cardin didn't seem like the type to want to go through the trouble.

 _Make up for his time bullying, perhaps?_

"Think whatever you want Nikos," stated Cardin as if reading her mind, "I'm just doing this because I want to, not because of some higher meaning."

Pyrrha stared at Cardin for a long while before she got up herself.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Pyrrha.

Cardin looked over his shoulder at her for a moment before he motioned towards the wastebasket near the entrance of the gym.

"Mind bringing that trashcan over here?" he asked.

Pyrrha immediately set to the task, which was easy enough since the said wastebasket was made of metal. Polarity was a very useful thing to have. Cardin let out a grunt of thanks when Pyrrha set the container down next to him before proceeding to dump the first load of sand into the wastebasket. Pyrrha watched him work, all the while certain thoughts began to plague her mind, memories of a past long passed.

"Something on your mind Nikos?" asked Cardin suddenly as he continued to work, "Or are you just gonna keep staring at me?"

Pyrrha started slightly at the sudden questions, heat reaching her cheeks in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry!" stated Pyrrha automatically as she went back to do her normal routine.

After taking just a couple steps, however, she stopped again, thoughts of her near-death experience yesterday and her mysterious savior breaching her mind again.

"Have you ever had anyone you looked up to?" Pyrrha asked.

Pyrrha could hear the sweeping sounds of the broom come to an abrupt halt, its wielder likely taken aback by the sudden question.

"Huh?" asked Cardin dumbly.

Pyrrha sighed.

"Never mind, I'm just rambling, ignore me."

Pyrrha mentally berated herself for bringing a complete stranger into her inner turmoil, and Cardin Winchester of all people! Yes he may be turning a new leaf, but still! Pyrrha went back to her stretching excercises as she listened to Cardin slowly get back to work. For a while there was awkward silence as Cardin continued to clean up while Pyrrha tried her best to fight off both her embarrassment and the memories plaguing her. The silence continued after Cardin finished cleaning up and put the broom and dustpan back to where they belonged. Cardin then moved to the wastebasket to put it back as well while Pyrrha moved to the treadmills.

"Yes."

Pyrrha started at the sudden answer and looked over at Cardin with wide eyes. Cardin however seemed lost in thought as he stared down at the wastebasket. Pyrrha waited for clarification, but after a moment more of silence Pyrrha started to slowly turn back to the treadmill-.

"When I was five Grimm invaded my hometown just north of Vale," said Cardin.

Pyrrha's eyes widened at that and she turned back towards Cardin who was now looking out towards the window, his eyes glassed over as he lost himself down memory lane.

"My three-year-old sister and I were separated from our parents in the chaos and eventually we were cornered by a couple of Beowolves."

Pyrrha slowly turned to look back at Cardin as he continued to recount his tale.

"I remember wanting to cry and run because I was so scared, but I also remember thinking that I wanted to protect my sister and it kept me rooted to where I was."

Cardin let out a hollow chuckle.

"For all the good it did against the Grimm."

Cardin shook his head.

"But there I stood, thinking of all of my regrets in my short life, lamenting the little love my parents gave to me or my sister, hating myself for being so weak…

Cardin allowed a ghost of a smile to appear on his face.

"Then she came."

Pyrrha blinked and leaned forward at this.

"Who came?" asked Pyrrha.

Cardin seemed to finally acknowledge Pyrrha's presence and turned to look at her.

"A huntress," answered Cardin vaguely.

Pyrrha frowned at the lack of information, but didn't get a chance to press Cardin as he was already back in memory lane.

"One moment we were surrounded by Grimm, the next, she was standing there with the Grimm dead at her feet," said Cardin, "She looked so bright and _strong_ like nothing I've ever seen before."

Cardin let out a grin at this.

"And do you know what the first thing she said to me was?" he asked.

Pyrrha didn't answer the obviously rhetorical question as Cardin answered not to long afterward.

"That I was brave," said Cardin with an even wider smile, "The first words of praise that I have ever heard from anyone other than my little sister."

Pyrrha felt a pang in her chest at the insinuation that Cardin left unanswered.

"It was then that I vowed to become as strong and bright as my savior so that I can protect my sister myself without being afraid and maybe one day return the favor," Cardin said his smile slowly fading, "I guess I forgot about that somewhere down the line…"

Pyrrha stared at the boy before her; unsure if it was Cardin Winchester she was speaking to. This boy seemed far more different than the bully she first knew during the initial days of Beacon. At the same time, however something else plagued her thoughts more.

"What did she look like?" asked Pyrrha.

Cardin was brought back to reality once again and looked a Pyrrha for a moment before suddenly turning red with embarrassment and anger.

"It was a long time ago," he grumbled in sudden agitation as he picked up the wastebasket and walked towards the exit at a brisk pace.

Pyrrha watched him go in disappointment that her question was never answered, still she learned that there was more to the apparently reformed heartless bigot that was Cardin Winchester. Pyrrha listened to the heavy thud of the wastebasket hitting the floor before Cardin made his exit.

"I don't remember much."

Pyrrha looked up to see that Cardin had paused at the gym door.

"But what one thing I remember vividly was her silver eyes."

Pyrrha's eyes widened a fraction at that, while Cardin quickly made his exit. Pyrrha continued to stare at the doorway where he disappeared.

 _Silver eyes…_

 _"Yes… my eye color is a little unique, but hey, at least I stand out!"_

The eyes that belonged to her idol, the huntress that she strove to become like when she became a full-fledged huntress herself.

 _Could she have been the one who saved me?_

 _"I live out in this little island called Patch just off the coast of Vale!"_

It was very possible, especially since Patch was specifically closer to Vale's capital city, which also happened to be where Beacon was located. Hope settled in Pyrrha's heart as she thought of the prospect of meeting the woman who inspired her to live her dreams. Pyrrha let out a smile as another memory passed through her mind.

 _"Well my name is Summer Rose, what's your name?"_


End file.
